Travel Diaries – Up & About in Leh-Ladakh

The morning washed all the frustration away and welcomed us to 1 very happy feeling – We were on vacation!!! As I mentioned in my earlier post, the hotel where we were put up – Hotel Chubi – was a very homely hotel. The tea and the breakfast – Omlette and Aloo da Paratha – were really simple to taste and really helped us relax. The only prick in our sides was the annoying caretaker who was very rigid in his approach towards handling customers. “Aap aur khaoge?” was a classic dialogue which made you think as to who is paying the bills around there!

Another fantastic thing about the hotel was the fact that they cultivated most of their vegetables! They had a big garden which housed a number of vegetable plants along with apricot and apple trees! Being a guy from the city, sights like these were something to which I cannot control my excitement! It was a superb experience to witness such things.

The evening when we reached Ladakh, our travel agent over there came around to take our photo ids. These were required for making our permits for Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake. These permits take about a day to be made. So, a travel tip – ensure that you enroll for these and plan for your visit accordingly.

Since it was going to take a day to prepare the permits, we stuck to visiting only some local places during the course of the day. Below is a walkthrough of the same:1

• Thiksey Monastery:

Located on the outskirts of town, the Thiksey Monastery is home to all the Tibetan monks in Ladakh. Its one of the quietest places in the world – a place where even I was quiet! It’s located on top of a hill, so walking on top to the various temples is a real challenge. From the monastery, you have a nice cool view of 2 parts of ladakh – the dry mountainous region and the oasis that is the Ladakhi town! The highlight of this place is the monks who move around effortlessly in their area. They are serious contenders in the sport of parkour. Another highlight is the sheer simple approach towards Buddhism which is portrayed here. I aint a religious guy but I loved the way the people here value peace and silence.

• Indus River bank:

The river bank aka ghat was inaugurated by our then Prime Minister Mr Vajpayee. Its basically a small sightseeing kinda place built on the banks of the river indus as it gains momentum and flows down from the Himalayas. It is also used for performing some rituals. Its was an awesome place to attain inner peace :)

•           Shanti Stupa:

One of the highlights of the day for me! It’s the top most peak of ladakh where a small Buddist monument has been made. Its supposed to be a symbol of peace. All I can say is, it provides another awesome view of the entry valley – a panoramic view! Its simply surreal to be there, a feeling that can only be expressed by actually visiting that place!

•      Kargil Monument & Museum:

Ladakh has a Kargil monument which was laid down to honour those who lost their lives during the Kargil conflict. The monument gives even the most unpatriotic person a feeling of Patriotism. The monument is preceded by a war museum which documents the various strategies undertaken by our military to stamp out the infiltrators. It has a lot of models showing the strategies employed, equipment used in war and for survival, the medals bestowed and the enemy equipment and artifacts confiscated. It definitely increased the respect which I had for the military and changed my outlook towards the entire defence system employed by the country. This is 1 place which I recommend should not be missed whilst in Ladakh.

Speaking of places which we missed – there were 2 places which were missed by us due to time and health constraints:

•      Nubra Valley
•      Pangong Lake

Yea, I know I would be criticized for missing these but there are some issues which you cant really keep aside – one being a health one. As I always say, there is always next time!

To compensate, we explored the ladakhi market and had good at some quite nice places in and around ladakh. The ladakhi market is more or less oriented to support foreign tourists and is loaded with Pashmina silk shops which give shawls, sweaters at phenomenally high prices. The reason for high prices is simple – the valley is closed for 6 months of the year, so all the profit which has to be earned is earned in the remaining 6 months! My friend introduced me to some really nice brass artifacts – one which makes an ‘OM’ sound when you swipe its brim with a wooden rod through resonance. Another nice ones were of candle stands, daggers with decorated hilt etc etc. The Ladakhi market is definitely another place not to be missed!

Our stay in Ladakh was a breeze. 3 nights just went pass by without us knowing about it! Sometimes when I travel through the noisy, frustration generating streets of Mumbai, I really long for the quiet and peaceful bylanes of Ladakh and the inner peace which I could attend by just glazing out from the Shanti Stupa!