Highest High in the world

It started off with another plan for our favorite destination - Spiti - but somewhere down the line the itenerary got transformed by our German friend to Leh Ladakh instead. The beginning of all our journeys have become predictable - the usual fights about who's coming and how, the coalition-building and the ultimate backing out of all women except for teh sucker for punishment Me! So on June 29th, 2004, we set off on our Lhasa Travels to Manali. Manali was pretty uneventful - we have got used to seeing it just as a one night stop and didn;t really bother to do anything much escept show C around. He - on his first trip to India- was finding the mudainest of things very quaint and we were playing along "Oh wow, see a cow on the road." Or " Can you believe the way the dhobis beat the clothes to get them clean.." and so on.


We had decided to take the less traveled route to Leh - so our first stop was a no nonsense "need to stop driving around" stop over at Kaza. The only thing worth remebering was the dirty rice chhang we managed to make C have- I am surprised his Bisleri stomach survived! The road from Kaza to our next "need to stop driving around" stop was amazingly beautiful with sudden sand dune- like structures giving way to alein city-like rock formations. The altitude had started taking its toll and my co-travellers were dropping off like flies! The stop over at an immensely uncomfortable trucker's tent place did not help much. The place was a couple of tents with stinky sock smelling mats and dogs that barked all night. The only thing worth remebering here was the chocolate rum drink C made on the tent woman's stove to cheer us up. We were all crabby and headachy - ofcourse the couple travelling with us took the smart decision- got inside a sleeping bag and didn't try to force "enjoyment" on themselves the way we did!


Hmm the trip doesn't sound too good the way I describe it , does it! But the scenery made up for all such woes. Next morning was the most "look forward to" stretch - from Trucker's villa to Tso Moreri lake. while Pangongso is the most talked about lake near Leh (it's on the indo-Tibet border), we chose Tso Moreri - I guess cos we are compulsive off the beaten path trekers :) The way to the lake is as magnificent as the lake itself - there are 3 lakes almost like trailers to the movie, one on a marshy salty terrain, one with beautiful birds and wierd wildlife and the third is a tiny blue glacial lake with a lone pedal boat floating around! I wonder who they expect to be pedaling around there!


Our ultimate destination was a huge lake - about 24 kms in diameter and unbelievably beautiful. Altho' I still feel Chandratal is more like home (I guess beacuse its smaller and cosier in size), Tso Moreri is definitely worth a visit. Ofcourse the altitude is a killer and most of my friends spent the rest of the day moaning with their heads in their hands. I, for whatever wierd reason, was perfectly healthy!

There is just one "hotel" at Tso Moreri, it looked pretty abandoned and all the life was in one shady room where a group of men locked themselves in each evening and played cards till late night. The only other option (which we chose ) is to camp next to the lake. The only place to eat is this tent dhaba run by two Ladakhi women and they charge money according to your clothes and the kind of vehicle you are driving (perfect discrimination)! So our driver got to eat his entire meal for 20 Rs while we had to pay 60 Rs for warming our tins :)

The only 2 problems with Tso is the military camps and associated rules for camping and the HORDES if deadly mosquitoes next to the lake. Essentially that means you cannot hope to enjoy the kind of walking in the lake fun that we loved at our lil chamdratal...