Ladakh is literally the land of high passes. And in Ladakhi language, passes are known as ‘La’. This is an account of all the roads and passes that we crossed while reaching Leh from Delhi.
Friday, 11th August, 2006: The only pass was Azadpur Mandi by-pass and it took us a good two hours to pass out of constipated Delhi.
Saturday, 12th August, 2006: The bus reached Manali only after noon. After lunch and some rest, we started for Keylong. The highest pass of the day was Rohtang pass at 13050 ft. Note that it is still called pass here and not ‘La’. It was extremely windy up there and we could not stand there for more than five minutes. A few minutes later and at a lower height of 10301 ft at Koksar, we were much more comfortable. We reached Keylong at 2100 hrs.
Sunday, 13th August, 2006: Started at 0530 in the morning. This was a day full of passes – first came Baralachala at 16500 ft. Then after crossing Sarchu, came the famous Gata loops, where one ascends from 4200 m to 4667 m over 21 loops and 20 mins. Then came two passes in quick succession – Nakeela (15547 ft) and Lachulungla (16617 ft). We stopped at a place called Pang for lunch. Immediately after Pang, there were a few loops which took us to a higher plateau – the Mori plains. This was the most amazing sight with the plain stretching to miles on both sides and mountains in the distance. We quit the road and two Scorpios raced each other at 80 kmph. We gave up soon though, as we couldn’t resist stopping for a few snaps. After miles of nothingness, we reached the mountains. After a steady climb, we reached Taglangla – the highest pass of the day at 17582 ft and the third highest in the world.
After Taglangla, several long loops bring you down to the ‘plains’. Then on the roads take you through some purple and green colored hills, till you reach river Indus. After that the remaining road is as smooth as mirror – this expression is not mine but the driver’s. It is indeed a smooth straight road through a desert which gets you to Leh.
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7 comments:
cheeeeta hai tu mere bhai !!!
mast likha hai sir....
Err..@ Cheeta
I found the bit about the race of the two scorpios quite interesting. So who raced them?
And I loved this sentence very much "After miles of nothingness, we reached the mountains."
wow...i've pined to visit these places...
Nice post Subhadip ..sply the accent in post was sweet :P
Prashant - Thank you bro.
Deepak - Thank you, Sir. When are you writing?
Sayan - No one! They raced each other.. but after a while, our urge to shoot photographs made us stop. So in a way, we lost. But if you look at the Mori plain snaps, you know who really won.
Anonym - Once in a lifetime experience my friend. If possible go there once.
Chitrangada - Thanks. Accent?
Mayuri - While going up to Taglangla it's the eagerness; while coming down, it's relief, I guess. Relief from the bone piercing chilly wind that greeted us there.
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