Ladakh, the land of the high passes, the northern most state of India has always been part reality and part fantasy. And as we found out, Ladakh landscape brings up the true raw nature as had been through the ages. And when we add Changthang to Ladakh we get the best of a travel that one can do in a lifetime.
Changthang, is the high altitude plateau of Tibet and and which extends to Ladakh. Changthang throws up extremes, unrealistic colours to cold harsh weather to vastness of landscape rarely seen anywhere else.
Now what happens when one travels in October? - the "off of off-season" period. There was absolutley no travel story on the net or print that I came across that said that this is month that one can travel by own vehicle and that too a 2wd. But with Durga Puja holidays starting in October, we had this month of October only and as such we again travel with our trust in Safari VTT 2wd.
Each and every moment was cherished in this great off-season October travel to Ladakh and Changthang. It has been a very tough but greatly satisfying journey to say the least. As said the memories were varied and diverse but definitely pleasant.
Let me put in the varied experiences and highlights of this journey. We [wife, me and our 5-year-old child] remember this journey for:
1. The number of people who we met and the great support and openess that we saw in each and every place, whether it be the lonely dhaba we stopped somewhere in eastern UP at 1 am to each and every person we met out there in Ladakh and Changthang.
2. For our interaction with the changpa [nomad] who took a lift towards to Leh and gave his "tent address" - next time we be there, I promised to track him down and move along walking on the more remote places where they graze!
3. For the fantastic gentleman we met in remote Nubra side who personally showed a revolver he bought all the way from Kolkata [!] and then showed us the village Gompa, a beautiful gompa high above the mountains.
4. For the personal invitation to a Ladakhi kitchen at ex-panchayat at Saboo. A day was spent there amongst them, and it was an experience we cherish forever.
5. For the amazingly crude yet warm home stays [remember this is way offseason mid October] at Hanle and Fukche/Koyoul, the coldness and the remoteness has to be visted to be felt. At both places, the hostess and host respectively saw to our comfort in that cold in whatever way possible, even if it meant giving the new blankets to us they had just bought for the winters.
6. For the invitation at Dah for a festival that takes place once in 3 years and then welcomed to stay with one of village citizens in their house, though they had guests. Gestures and memories that still touch our heart.
7. For the absolutely disciplined lone soldiers that we met at the frontier posts, surprised to see us with a child and vehicle out there roaming around places where no tourists go!
8. For the personal letter by an Army Major so that we travel along Fukche to Demachok - the last of the border posts and we look to China a mere 30 feet away
9. For some absolutely great memories and experiences with truck drivers we spent 2 days and 2 nights at Zojila top, pushing boulders with them to repairing trucks to sharing cigarettes and bidis and tea and biscuits. - yes we were stuck on the top of Zojila at 12,000 feet for 2 whole nights.
10. For the Kashmiri toll collector of Sonmarg, who after hearing that we not eaten enough for 2 days and nights as we were stuck at Zojila, hastely arranged for some bread and tea at 5 am in the morning as we came down from Zojila to Sonmarg.
11. For our vehicle, Safari LX 2wd VTT, for going through all that was thrown at it, from the non-stop 1600 km journey from Kolkata to Delhi and also return in 20-22 hours to the way it went through all the ice and slush at the most remote altitudes, and the best of all, idling for continuous 48 hours as we were stuck at Zoji la with heater on.
12. A special mention goes to our 5-yr-old son for enjoying the journey as much as we do, even while stuck at Zojila or the extreme coldness at Fukche/Koyoul or Hanle. It is his wonderful temperament that goes a long way in making the journey so much enjoyable.
13. And quite a few members of different forums and of course from Sutripta -da who lend us his GPS and which we conked out Hanle, to Nandi with some important updates regarding weather, to Kaustabha who we met we were entering Kolkata after a 25-day gap.
Also this journey was significant in a way that all those debilitating car loan EMIs were ending. It was a 3-year loan, hoping to finish it off as quickly as possible, but then as it happens one just scrapes through a 3-year period.
A natural extension of a traveller in most cases is photography, and it is landscape for me but then during our last decade 2 mp digital cameras were just coming on and film cameras were costly, so cameras just did not come into horizon and those days were the Enfield days!
Last year though I had bought the Canon 450D with the kit lens 18-55 and a off market 55-250 mm, it was stuck mostly in auto and sometimes in AV mode [we all know that what a quicksand pit photography is] and as we finally got rid of all the EMIs over a 10-year period and that included a new Bullet to this Safari VTT, finally it was time for a new Tokina 11-16 lens as we headed off for Ladakh. At least hoped some better pictures, anyway better way to start some photography other than at Ladakh.
This journey also does put up the fact that Ladakh and even Changthang is possible in the month of October with a bit of luck. Though cold and desolate, a great boon for off-season travellers like us. Also while going, was surprised to hear Chandrataal lake wasnt iced up, so made a dash for it - and what desolate it was!!
A special mention does go to some great travellers out here [including of course hvk] to vardhan harsh's [fantastic detailed trip writer] and Tanveer's exceptional Ladakh travelogues as well as that of Ramky1 - all of them some painstakingly created some unique road maps of that region. Thank a lot to you guys for bringing up such trips ever and ever again- just not only Ladakh.
Ladakh is all about pictures. Before I go into details and numbers all, let's just celebrate some highlight pictures. All of out here and wherever, you gotta go to Ladakh and Changthang once! of course Zanskar should not also disappoint to say mildly.
contd...