posted on 22nd October, 2022
Ladakh is without a doubt one of the most sought after destinations in India for adventure seekers. I had a pleasure to visit this marvellous place in June - July earlier this year. I was part of a group tour operated by a company called "Golden Eagle Expedition". It was an enduring bike trip for 12 days. We started from Srinagar and entered into Ladakh the same day by evening. Most of the time we were riding on bikes and had little time to spend in sight-seeing. Overall, it was a thrilling experience. We skipped Leh Palace, Leh Market and some passes
I enjoyed almost never ending scenic beauty throughout our journey. My favorite route was from Kargil to Leh, every single snapshot clicked on my phone appeared to be worthy of a desktop wallpaper. In our journey, we crossed multiple dangerous passes like Zoji la pass, Gata Loops and Khardungla Pass. We also left some prominent places from our itinerary owing to lack of time we had.
1. Pangong Tso : Often you would find this place at number one in many such Ladakh 'places to visit' lists. Most part of this lake lies in Tibet and is frozen in Winter. It changes color at least twice a day. In the morning it would be blueish and by evening it would be slightly green. I haven't been to many such comparable lakes, but this was for sure the purest form of water body I saw in my life. The different colored mountains surrounding this lake enhances the beauty of this place. This is where the last scene of famous Bollywood movie '3 Idiots' was shot.2. Tso Moriri Lake : Another pristine lake of Ladakh comes next in my list. Relatively less explored compared to Pangong, this lies completely in India. We experienced quite extended off-road drive on our way to this lake which makes it difficult to access compared to Pangong. In many ways it is similar to Pangong and provides a nice photoshoot location to decorate your Instagram.
3. Khardungla Pass : It is falsely advertised as the 'Highest Motorable Road' in the world. In reality it even struggles to make it to top 10. There is another pass called 'Umling La Pass', located in eastern Ladakh at an altitude of 19,300 feet above sea level, which in reality has the world's highest motorable road. Khardunga however is easily accessible from 'Leh'. It was a unique experience for me, at almost half the elevation a commercial flight often operates it was the highest altitude I've ever been to.
4. Shanti Stupa : It is one of the main attractions of the city of 'Leh'. It's hilltop location allows to have a panoramic view of Leh city. You can also enjoy the scenic beauty of snow covered Himalayas. Statue of Buddha is also installed inside the Stupa.
5. Nubra Valley : Around 160 KM from Leh, this cold desert of India has a lot to offer for tourists. 'Sand Dunes' is located in Nubra valley where you can enjoy camel riding. These camels have two humps which differentiates them from camels elsewhere found in India. There are other activities you can enjoy in Sand Dunes like archery and few others which I can't recall at the time of writing this post XD. We visited this place in the evening and experienced mesmerizing sunset view in the valley.
6. Hanley Village : This places supposedly has one of the clearest night sky views from anywhere in India. I took several shots of the night sky here, one of them you can find in the gallery of this post per say. It houses Indian Astronomical Observatory which has one of the highest operating telescopes in the World at the altitude of 4500 meters. People come here to gaze the night sky and we did the same for 3-4 hours, tried our photography skills and captured some stunning night visuals.7. Indus Zanskar Sangam : Ladakh is full of rivers and their confluence points. Perhaps the most famous out of these is the confluence point of river Zanskar and the mighty Indus. This spot is located almost 30 KMs from Leh. We were not able to descend down to the actual spot, we only had a top view which kind of sucked. This was one of those places which we were not able to cover in detail due to lack of time. There is an army base just near the spot, there are activities like river rafting which we missed. Indus approaches from the left and Zanskar from the right. I regret I did not get to touch pristine Indus, though at a lot of places in our journey we could see Indus flowing by our side in the valley. It is the longest river in India, despite the absence of major populated settlements near this river in India. It is the life line of Pakistan with 95% of the river flowing through it.