Today we headed out to Pangong Lake, a very large holy
lake high in the Himalayas with about a third of it lying in India and the
remainder in China.
Before we left, we stopped to give school supplies to
some school children. Tara, our travel
agent, was handing out the supplies.
We passed some decorated stupas – as we recall, the Dali Lama was
coming later for a visit so some of the stupas were well outfitted with prayer flags.
The drive took us through a valley where we saw …
Shey Palace,
Chemday Monastery,
More stupas and monasteries
and incredible mountain vistas.
The drive up to the pass was incredible. The hillsides are dry and desolate and
magnificent.
Part way up we stopped at an Indian Army post that offered bathroom breaks...
a welcome party...
and some interesting signs (the BRO in the sign is the Border Road Organization that maintains the roads).
The post as we headed on up the hill.
As we went higher the amount of snow steadily increased,
with the mountains sides becoming more steep and snowy.
The elevation at the top of the pass was 17,688 ft (5,360 m). We stopped to use the facilities there (very basic - you don't want to know how basic).
a welcome party...
and some interesting signs (the BRO in the sign is the Border Road Organization that maintains the roads).
The post as we headed on up the hill.
As we went higher the amount of snow steadily increased,
with the mountains sides becoming more steep and snowy.
The elevation at the top of the pass was 17,688 ft (5,360 m). We stopped to use the facilities there (very basic - you don't want to know how basic).
The drive down took us through similar terrain....lots of beautiful, desolate mountain landscape.
Along the way we encountered an army convoy that really slowed down the traffic (since the roads are barely a lane and a half wide). Since the area is so close to both China and Pakistan there is a large army base in the area.
Along the way we encountered an army convoy that really slowed down the traffic (since the roads are barely a lane and a half wide). Since the area is so close to both China and Pakistan there is a large army base in the area.
We also saw yaks or zhos??? Hard to tell the difference...
wild asses,
And marmots...
and a goat herder out with his goats.
We also drove through a pretty heavy sand storm as the winds were very strong between the mountains and one area was covered mostly with sand.
We also drove through a pretty heavy sand storm as the winds were very strong between the mountains and one area was covered mostly with sand.
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| The road going through a cut in the mountain. |
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| Army base is in the valley below. |
The Pangong Lake (a holy lake) to the is at 13,944 feet and is really beautiful but with the cloud cover it was rather gray. About 2/3rds of the lake lies in Tibet in China. An unusual feature of the lake is that the China end is fresh water and the Indian end is salt water.
We stopped at a location with a number of small restaurants for a very late lunch. One was called the “3 Idiots” Café. Apparently there was a Three Idiots Indian movie that was filmed in the area so the locals were taking advantage of the fame. Since the 3 idiots rode around in the movie on a yellow scooter we say a couple of places where you could get you picture on a yellow scooter with Pangong Lake in the background for only 50 rupees.
There were also places you could get your picture on the back of a Yak, complete with colorful saddle.
Further on we took a scenic detour down to the lake for even more pictures...
where we saw people taking rides on white horses with a phenomenal mountain backdrop,
enjoying the views...
and taking pictures...
often of their group or themselves.
This area was particularly interesting with a long spit of sand that separated a lagoon from the main lake.
The water here was extremely calm resulting in great reflections in the water.
Further down the lake we had to stop for more pictures...
including of some cranes along the water's edge.
Then we were off to our accommodations for the night. However, the car was stuck in the sand, and the driver and guide had to push to get it out.
We are sleeping in tents tonight. Tara was adamant that she doesn’t do tents
but these were basically all that is available in the area. Because of the remoteness there are no
regular hotels in the area.
We had a great view overlooking the lake.
Because of the very high winds in the area the tents were held down with very large rocks to keep them from blowing away.
Our tent was very spacious with private, attached
bathroom. The tent looked relatively new
and was well sealed against the environment.
It was equipped with a rock hard king size bed (two twins),
a night stand, small side table, and a sitting are with two very short chairs and a table.
The bathroom was at the back of the tent...
The bathroom was large VERRRRRY basic and had no hot water and a toilet of a size suitable for a pre‑school or early elementary environment.
The tent had no heat and one overhead light in both rooms…with electricity supplied only from 7:00 to 11:00 at night.
Because of the very high winds in the area the tents were held down with very large rocks to keep them from blowing away.
a night stand, small side table, and a sitting are with two very short chairs and a table.
The bathroom was at the back of the tent...
The bathroom was large VERRRRRY basic and had no hot water and a toilet of a size suitable for a pre‑school or early elementary environment.
The tent had no heat and one overhead light in both rooms…with electricity supplied only from 7:00 to 11:00 at night.
As we were leaving the dining room (also in a large tent)
we were each provided a hot water bottle…which turned out to be badly
needed. We went to bed very early
because there was little to do and we were both very cold.
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