Jannat e Kashmir and Majestic Ladakh
Kashmir & Ladakh — A place which was always on top of my bucket list but I did never imagine that the fun would start even before we land into the Airport. The view from flight in last 10 mins before landing was a sight to behold, as if nature has created a trailer of the actual film. The glimpse of snow clad mountain on both the sides of the flight already set the stage for savouring the heaven on earth. Want to be part of our 8 days unforgettable journey? Let’s get into it.
Day 1
We set off from Kolkata early morning (~6 AM) and landed in Srinagar Airport around 2 PM via Delhi. We booked a houseboat at Nigeen lake. Our Pre booked Car dropped us at Nigeen Lake Jetty which was 40 mins from the Airport. The houseboat was 10 mins of Shikara ride from the Jetty. The fun begins the moment we got into Shikara. All sorts of unpleasant thoughts about the disturbance in Kashmir valley was completely gone by the surreal beauty of Nigeen lake and the mountains covering it. Peace!! we were already at heaven. We were received at Houseboat with smiling face and the Kahwah tea which was awesome. The excitement was difficult to express in words, Just put the worry on pause and sip into the world of Shikara, Houseboats and Kahwah. We reserved a 2–3 hours Shikara ride which made a roundtrip from Nigeen lake to Dal lake and back to Nigeen. A slow but enjoyable ride through the life of local Kashmiri's, we reached Dal just before sun down. Dal Lake which was too crowded to my taste, more of traffic jam by Shikara however, the take away was few beautiful pictures and an experience we always wanted.
It was dark when we returned back to Houseboat, the night view of houseboat is another memorable sight. We ended our day with sumptuous Chicken, Tawa Roti, Salads and some unknown yet tasty kashmiri cuisines.
Day 2
The weather was sunny, pleasant and calling. We started from Houseboat at 8 AM to venture out for the Adventurous ride to Kargil through Sonamarg. Initial few miles were through scenic Dal lake at one side and on other side fully blossom Chinar tree. The last 1 hr stretch before Sonamarg was to die for. On one side of the road, rocky mountains, on the others side vast valleys with small houses decorated by beautiful river and ornamented by snow capped mountains. A sight I had only seen in wallpapers.
After battling with terrible traffic we finally reached sonamarg around 1 PM. As per our plan, we took pony ride to Thajias Glacier and it turned out to be one of the best experience of the tour. My limited vocabs cannot express the beauty of the journey and the landscape. This place can be a strong reason to save money by not travelling Switzerland and other popular European hilly destinations. Such a surreal place this is. As I am writing this by walking down the memory lane, I feel the same excitement as we felt on that day.
We did not go till glacier, rather stopped at place about 30 mins before the glacier point. That place was beautiful with the view of glacier and a river gushing through the valley. A lot of bollywood movies has their shooting here.
We were back to base camp where our Car were parked, had wonderful Maggi and Tea luch and embarked for Zojila pass, one of the most dangerous road we travelled in this tour. The zero point which is in the zojila pass and on route to Kargil was decent place for a quick stop over for walking on the snow but this can be skipped if time is a constrain. After Zojila, the next stop was Kargil War Museum. All of us including kids enjoyed this place because of the history it carries and the way Indian Army maintains it. Finally we reached kargil at 9:30 PM and checked into Hotel.
Day 3
Opened our eyes with the below View from our Hotel. The landscape got changed. The mountains are more rough, less green, more closer to our reach just how it was shown in movies. The view was mesmerising.
Today’s journey was relatively shorter compared to yesterday’s 13 hours Marathon. Our Driver told we would take 2–3 stops between kargil and Leh but we finally stopped 14/15 times for enjoying and capturing the breathtaking beauty.
The road is pretty curvy with sharp turns. Our young travellers started feeling mountain sickness within 1 hr of our journey from Kargil. Anyways, although the road is beautiful throughout, among all the stops we took, best was Sangam.
We reached Leh around 4 PM and checked into a nice hotel called Bodhi Tree.
Day 4
My son started having acute mountain sickness from Day 3 night that made us alter our plan to next’s day’s excusion to Nubra valley. We decided to stay in Leh on Day 4. We took him to Leh hospital in the morning for doc consultation. He was given oxigen and one injection. At night he was all pumped up again so we were all set to venture for the next adventure travelling via highest motorable road of the world, khardungla pass.
Day 5
The road to Khardungla is very steep and turns are very sharp which was enough to make us felt sick, kids started vomiting again. The traffic was bit slow as we were moving towards Khardungla. In 30 mins from Leh, patches of snow started appearing on the otherwise grey mountains. The Khardungla top is at ~18000 ft from sea level. The Selfie grabbers made the place so crowed, we decided to move on after a brisk stop for 5/10 mins and then drove downhill. We found the downhill was more beautiful with fresh snow covered the entire surroundings.
In 3 hours, we reached from 10K to 18K feet and again came back to 10K. This height difference made us bit exhausted but the spirit was indomitable so we braved towards the next attraction, Diskit Buddha Temple. It’s a beautiful place overlooking Nubra Valley and Monastery. We spent some time there taking few nice snaps before resuming the journey for final destination of the day, Our resort at Sumur valley.
The Eco Tourist Lodge was probably the best accommodation of the tour. Strategically situation in between Mountains. Large cottages, very good noise isolation, excellent service, food and most importantly what a splendid view all around. Highly recommended!!
After savouring Hot tea and maggi at Resort, we strolled towards Sumur sand dunes which was 15-20 mins walk from backside of the resort. Solitary, peaceful, serene atmosphere took away all our tiredness and icing on the cake the last few rays of the sun made golden imprint on top of the hill, made the atmosphere dreamy…Surreal.
Day 6
We woke up early in the morning after a good night sleep, had wonderful breakfast in resort and headed towards Turtuk, a Village very close to Pakistan Border. The Road to Turtuk in pleasant and very scenic. It took ~4 hours to Reach Turtuk. Don’t forget to get down from the car to enjoy the nature and take photos.
Walking through the Turtuk village was a nice experience. We liked the museum which is basically a house built 200 years back and shows how people over there would maintain their life style.
We returned to Hunder, Nubra Valley which is more popular place in Nubra than Sumur where we stayed last night. The sand dunes in Hunder and bigger than Sumur. A lot of activities like double hump camel and OTG car drive are available here however we did not try any.
Day 7
Today we had monuments of travel to cover. Nubra Valley to Pangong (5–6 Hours) and then Pangong to Leh (4–5 hours). This marathon drive is to cover one day loss in Leh. Well, spirit is still indomitable, we started at 6:15 AM from our hotel to reach Pangong at 12 PM. Ahh, the road here dangerously beautiful and rugged. we crossed some patches of road where the cliff is probably the stiffest and deepest I have seen in my life.. there was no tree still I could not trace where the cliff ended.. Horrific. This stretch is also probably the worst in terms of condition of the road. However this road also had some excellent landscape to offer specially last 1 hours before pangong is so beautiful.
About 10 mins before we reached Pangong, our driver asked us to look at one corner and we saw a blue patch in the grey landscape which was getting bigger as we were moving forward. In 1 min we could see the the structure of the lake visible through the mountain. A sight I would never forget, God has emptied his bucket of natural beauty while creating this place. So vast, so beautiful and almost impossible to carry in photos. You have to be there physically to experience it.
Time to get back from heaven through a snowy Terrain called Changla pass. We got more snow here than Khardungla but the road were pathetic.
Day 8
Day 8 spent on local monastery visit and Rancho’s school. The monasteries here has it’s character and charm. You should definitely visit but beware of multiple steps you need to climb which can be very difficult for elderly people.
Rancho’s school was another fun attraction and you can enjoy 15 mins there taking funny photos and tribute to 3 idiots.
Day 9
To conclude, as long as scenic beauty is considered, this is definitely the best place I have visited in my life so far. However Ladakh might be bit hectic and toiling on your body if you are looking for a comfortable family tour, specially with younger child but If you love being in nature and natural adventure, any age is fine for Ladakh and you must visit this wonderland along with exquisite Kashmir for Lake, River, greenery, rugged hills, blue sky, altitude your body can feel, monastery..the list is endless and all with an unparalleled landscape.
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