Post 2. Changla to Pangong Tso Lake (Ladakh Season 2014)

Like chained elephants they rumbled by.

On our way up we had wondered why all those Indian Army trucks had metal chains around their wheels. Now when we were on the other side of Changla Pass, stuck in knee-deep snow, we knew why.

Soft snow + road tyres + high altitude = what were we thinking?

With fresh snow to fall into and plenty of people to help us up, slipping and sliding we squeezed past the one truck that had blocked all the traffic.

Layer upon layer of Vanilla Ice Cream.

The ride down was spectacular! With all the taxi’s held up at the pass, we had the entire road to ourselves all the way to the police check post in Tangtse. By the time I got off my bike I was thoroughly intoxicated by the experience. 

Stopped to register at the Tangtse Police Station. Got to pet the dog for free.

We hoped the person who rode this is still alive.

A wrecked Enfield at the check post put things into perspective and I sobered up instantly. One had to keep the tension between enjoying the scenery along with being cautious at all times. The policeman on duty couldn't remember if the biker had survived. 

One of the many one-liners most probably written by a man

I found that what was most dangerous while riding was my compulsive habit of reading all those silly haiku road signs.

“Overtakers will give job to Undertakers” I read nearly missing the army truck.

“After Whisky, Driving Risky”, I read as I almost slid on some gravel.

“Safety on Road is Safe Tea at home” And instantly I had the urge to stop for chai.

Hot roti, dal, subzi, pickle followed by 3 cups of chai!

At our lunch stop in Tangtse we got plate load of daal-roti-subzi along with our chai. Just as we were finishing taxi’s started to pull up with package tourists. It suddenly got loud and we made a hasty retreat to our bikes and got back on the road.

From nearly freezing and dragging ourselves through snow, we were now riding through fine sand on the road. This was the wonder of Ladakh that drew thousands of adventure seekers to this region. Ancient monasteries hung dramatically from the mountainside. The color and contrast of the landscape was nothing less than psychedelic.

Lunar Psychedelic Landscape. First sight of the Pangong Tso Lake.

Pangong Tso which in Tibetan means "long, narrow, enchanted lake" lives up to its description. Situated at 4,350 m (14,270 ft.) it is 134km’s long of which 60% lies in Chinese occupied Tibet. I don’t know about our neighbors but I was glad the Indian Army let us explore these areas in spite of the frequent border tensions. 

Defiant, apolitical, borderless birds.

But there were those who didn’t get involved in the border disputes nor cared too much about politics. They roamed freely from one ‘country’ to another without any passports. The cheeky brown headed gulls.

While the army gives the permission, the publicity for this lake in the recent past can solely be credited to our Bollywood star Aamir Khan. In fact the lake is now been re-christened as the ‘3 Idiots-walli lake’.

Am sure you wont regret eating or staying there.

Barely thirty minutes later, the altitude started to hit us like a gong. We thought it best to head to Spangmik and find a concrete guesthouse instead of checking into flimsy tents. A tent is a tent whether you give them exotic names, add ‘luxury’ after it or call them Alpine, Swiss or whatever.

No two photos of this lake will look alike.

We decided to ride 8 kms further to Spangmik.

That was the wisest decision of the day. The worst decision was, thinking we could survive staying above 4000meters after having flown up from Delhi barely thirty hours ago.