[BolBolero]

Day 12: Turtuk to PangongTso 28th. August 2011

continued..

So finally the decision of going to PangongTso that evening itself was made and confirmed, leaving a very confused Jorchung Guest House owner, Mr. Sonam! The next item on the agenda was trying to convince Ankuto continue with the rest of the trip! He was still not very sure of being able to make it with the rest of the team.
While the rest of the team was waiting for HVK to return from the mechanic, no_enthu_da and me decided to head off to the Leh Market for some quick souvenior shopping. But as luck would have it, no sooner had we entered the market area that I received a call saying that HVK is back and NJ and laluks have already gone ahead in search of TS and would be meeting with the rest of the team at Karu PP. So rushed back to the guest house.
After bidding our farewell to SS and DB and Sonam Dorje and family, we left the guest house at around 4:15pm.
Surprise: Anku had finally managed to convince the folks at home that he would not be able to make it alone to Bombay and would be coming, only after completing the whole trip.
So now it was finally 14 members in the IPHE Team!
First stop at the Karu Petrol Pump and then a mad dash to the Zingral checkpost, which we passed at around 6:00pm. Thereon we pushed to ChangLa reaching there by around 6:30pm.

Chang La

Lukung and PangongTso still another 70kms to go..

SSj at ChangLa, feeling cold!


The road at ChangLa


KSM-Vtec, doctorque and SSj at ChangLa


SSj, BolBolero, no_enthu_da, AR and HVK

It was really cold at ChangLa top and there was a little bit of Snowfall too!

We left from there after around 15 minutes. We passed Darbuk in darkness, did not even notice the Pagal Nullah bridge, finally reaching Lukung at 8:40pm, where HVK managed to take the road to MarsimikLa the pass instead of the road to Marsimik La Camp @ Lukung. We finally reached the camp at 8:55pm to be greeted by real cold weather and strong winds! As per instructions from the Chief, we parked all the cars facing the wall, with the three diesel vehicles sweatered (to use HVK's terminology)!

Unfortunately due to the darkness we could not even catch a glimpse of the famed PangongTso! But it was there, very very close, you could feel it!

Everyone checked into their respective tents and then met at the dining room tent for some piping hot dinner!

So here we were 14 of us in a Tent camp on the banks of the fabled PangongTso after a day full of many twists and turns. Kudos to the team and the spirit of making it in the face of difficult odds!

We will get to see PangongTso the next morning!

Total Distance covered: 415 kms.

[BolBolero]

GPS Tracks

Day 12: Turtuk to PangongTso



12 Turtuk to PangongTso.kmz

[hvkumar]

Log Book of HVK Scorpio, Aug 28, 2011, Leh-Pangong Tso, 445 kms

[deky]

What I was amazed to see was someone roaming in shorts at ChangLa whereas the rest were pretty well covered.

As I can understand from the write -up and keeping in mind the time of the day, it must have been pretty cold!!

Can we have Pangong Tso pics ASAP please i.e within this year?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by deky

Can we have Pangong Tso pics ASAP please i.e within this year?

Let me give you a preview of Pangong Lake, photos taken by TS, JP & KSM-VTEC the next day morning:

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

Chang La Attachment 862145
SSj at ChangLa, feeling cold! Attachment 862146
The road at ChangLa Attachment 862147
KSM-Vtec, doctorque and SSj at ChangLa
Attachment 862148
It was really cold at ChangLa top and there was a little bit of Snowfall too!

Scintillating experience reading the posts. Changla in Marathi means Achha Is it not?
That means all of you hit nig on that 415Kms stretch.

[BolBolero]

Originally Posted by deky

What I was amazed to see was someone roaming in shorts at ChangLa whereas the rest were pretty well covered.

As I can understand from the write -up and keeping in mind the time of the day, it must have been pretty cold!!

Believe you me it was really cold and the guy in the shorts and t-shirt was KSM-Vtec! We were also left wondering what kind of stuff he was made up off!

[laluks]

Good going Guys.

I got some time to catch up with the log now. Few more days, I'll be with you guys updating the logs.

Wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

[no_enthu_da]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

A water crossing
Attachment 861930

Baby Alto @ water crossing
Attachment 861931

BolBolero's Bolero @ water crossing
Attachment 861932

this crossing was tough! IIRC, all the small cars needed some pushing at the exit point. Though it may not look so, the path at the exit (and soon after it) was steep!

Originally Posted by BolBolero

Not sure if this lady was waving or shielding her eyes from the sun! I assumed she was waving and I waved back!
Attachment 861939

she sure is smiling! maybe she was waving too!

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

Believe you me it was really cold and the guy in the shorts and t-shirt was KSM-Vtec! We were also left wondering what kind of stuff he was made up off!

Well to be honest that was an accident. . . I dint intend to be there at that time in my shorts. . . But everything happened so quickly that evening that i dint get a chance to change or rather dint get the time to think about this before we left

[BolBolero]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

Well to be honest that was an accident. . . I dint intend to be there at that time in my shorts. . . But everything happened so quickly that evening that i dint get a chance to change or rather dint get the time to think about this before we left

Aw and here I was thinking you were different from the rest of us lesser mortals!

So you did feel the cold too! That's a relief to know!

[hvkumar]

The issues with visiting Pangong Lake:

- Many think it is like Ooty or Kodai Lake, some sort of heavenly place where you can spent a leisurely day! It is actually an inhospitable place at such high altitude that you may end up screaming to get back to the "plains" in Leh. Very cold, less oxygen and basic stay facilities.

- It is possible to do a day trip to Pangong out of Leh. Leave early morning by, say, 6 am, reach before 12, spent a couple of hours and start back, reaching Leh by dinner time. This season, roads were so good that a single journey one-way was less than 5 hours. Only bad roads were ascending and descending Chang la

- Once you leave Leh, there are some very basic hotels only at Tangtse and in Lukung itself, you can either stay at the super-expensive Marisimik la Camp - or the small tea shop next to it. Next to the M La camp are also the eco-huts. Further down, towards Spangimik, you have the Watermark Resort and some homestays in Spangimik village itself

- Marisimik la, the highest motorable road in the world, is under 30 kms from Lukung. Ascent starts from the check post-village of Phobrang. We did not even plan to go to M la because none of us had 4WD cars.

- Lukung, Spangimik, etc - these are points along the bank of the Pangong Lake. The Lake itself is some 40 kms inside India and 3 times as much in Tibet. The popular spot is LUkung which is the beginning of the Lake in India side. Till last year, civilians were not permitted to go beyond Spangimik, but now they are allowed to travel all along the banks of the Lake till Chushul and beyond. Happily, very few go beyond Lukung

- Apart from the resorts, tea shop, there is just one army canteen at Lukung

- Although there are 4 check posts - Zingral, Karo, Tangtse & Lukung - we were asked to show permits at only one. No one restricted us from travelling in the night.

Pangong Lake - do not miss it ever if you go to Ladakh!

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

- Lukung, Spangimik, etc - these are points along the bank of the Pangong Lake. The Lake itself is some 40 kms inside India and 3 times as much in Tibet.

After reading your post checked the lake in google maps. But it appears to be completely inside indian borders. So during 1962 war did China take a piece of ladakh?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by shipnil

After reading your post checked the lake in google maps. But it appears to be completely inside indian borders. So during 1962 war did China take a piece of ladakh?

Please take a look at this Google Map that I have here below. Lukung is the western India in India where most of the tourists visit Pangong. Trace the banks of the Lake through Spangimik & Merak to Chushul near where the Lake flows into China. You can see the length may be at least 3 times more in China, apparently just 40 kms is in India, the balance 120 kms is in China.

I have no idea whether this part was captured by China in the '62 War, but it is possible that this is all Akshai Chin which was in POKi hands and ceded by Pak to China.

[A M]

^^ You are absolutely correct HVK sir. It is indeed the Aksai Chin area that was captured by china during the '62 war. Also, the area was in news lately because of the incursions by the chinese army into the area. The 'Line of Actual Control' is not clearly marked here, so the chinese take the advantage of this border dispute.

I don't know how true is this but the gentleman at this checkpost at Lukung told us that the chinese also use a submarine in the PangongTso to keep a vigil at India.

Edit - Wish a very happy and prosperous New Year.
And congratulations IPHE team for by-far the longest and unique travelogue on T-BHP.