2nd July 2008 ~ Sarchu – Sarchu – Gata loops – Nakeela pass – Pang – Lachulungla Pass – Rumse - Upasi – Leh
We left the Sarchu camp around 8 in the morning. The plan was to reach Rumse and stay overnight and drive to Leh the next day. Not long before enroute we saw sand formations and a river flowing below. And it called for a photographic break!
Nitin and Rahul decided to go ahead and check out till the edge of the cliff.
Stopped over briefly at the Sarchu army camp to say goodbye to folks who had helped us and whom I don’t think any of us will ever forget in our life.
On the way we came across a few ladakhi who were going with their ponies.
Going further we found the river meandering back to flow along our route…
Terrain was such I couldn't stop my self and went on with shutter..
and by 12.30 we were about to start climbing Gata loops.
Rahul was counting while we were going up and keeping tab on the altitude we were gaining and his first reaction was “WTF!!”. And no wonder… he was going to cycle down.. (in this case up) from Manali to Leh. That was his reason to join this trip, to check out the route and everything.
We traveled through some amazing curves and bends.
We reached Nakeela Pass around 2 pm. Took a small photography break and then kept moving further towards Pang.
We took a break at Pang. I took a few shots of a girl; she was making thread from pashmina wool.
Old lady enjoying sun @ pang...
Sejal taking a shot of leaving pang behind... through moving car...
This is what she got...as I clicked one too...
Next stop was at Lachulungla Pass. We took a few clicks and kept moving.
n kept moving...
Next stop was near Kangla Jal.
And what I see… a view as picturesque as it can be.. Sand formations, a fine play of light and shadow, and to add a sky full of fluffy clouds… We spent sometime here.
As soon as we stopped Rahul started walking further to explore the area and I got him in the shot. Just at the right place to showcase the scale of whole landscape.
Moving forward...
Moving ahead we saw some more of the amazing combination of sand formations, snow laden mountain peaks in the background and river flowing below…. It was truly a heavenly sight…
for a while I stopped clicking just to absorb within me the charisma of that place.
And mind you this one is single shot... many thought it was two photos put together.. but it was just nature...
It was hard to stop clicking though. And realizing that I was running out of memory cards, I started to download the data onto my laptop… missing out a few good shots in the process.
The sun was setting down and the light was fading as we approached more plains.
Time was running out and we had to hurry up. It was already past 7pm. We kept moving… and it was getting darker…
Reached Taglangla Baba around 9pm. We thought we would click a few photos but it was freezing… I went out for a few minutes and rushed back to the warmth of the car. Managed just one shot with the car headlight. :)
That was the last shot of the day. We kept moving and reached Rumse around 11 pm and decide to have our dinner there and looked out for a place to spend the night. But we didn’t find anything suitable. Also most of things were closed as it was reaching mid night in that small village. We decided to head to Upasi for the stay overnight. Reaching there we found everything was shut down, ofcourse because of the dead hour. Not too optimistic about finding anything at all, Pradeep suggested it might be easier to get accommodation in Leh, and he was not the one to mind driving till Leh at all. We didn’t want to strain him but as he was so keen, decided to surge ahead switching to music of his choice… and listening to Mirza Galib and Marasim we reached Leh around 1.30 am. Nitin spoke to a few people and figured out the place for us to stay. Two more calls and we got the direction for Alimjan Guest House.
It was nice cozy place. But that was for later, we just dumped our luggage and were off to bed in a flash. That day was the longest we travelled – in the entire trip.
We left the Sarchu camp around 8 in the morning. The plan was to reach Rumse and stay overnight and drive to Leh the next day. Not long before enroute we saw sand formations and a river flowing below. And it called for a photographic break!
Nitin and Rahul decided to go ahead and check out till the edge of the cliff.
Stopped over briefly at the Sarchu army camp to say goodbye to folks who had helped us and whom I don’t think any of us will ever forget in our life.
On the way we came across a few ladakhi who were going with their ponies.
Going further we found the river meandering back to flow along our route…
Terrain was such I couldn't stop my self and went on with shutter..
and by 12.30 we were about to start climbing Gata loops.
Rahul was counting while we were going up and keeping tab on the altitude we were gaining and his first reaction was “WTF!!”. And no wonder… he was going to cycle down.. (in this case up) from Manali to Leh. That was his reason to join this trip, to check out the route and everything.
We traveled through some amazing curves and bends.
We reached Nakeela Pass around 2 pm. Took a small photography break and then kept moving further towards Pang.
We took a break at Pang. I took a few shots of a girl; she was making thread from pashmina wool.
Old lady enjoying sun @ pang...
Sejal taking a shot of leaving pang behind... through moving car...
This is what she got...as I clicked one too...
Next stop was at Lachulungla Pass. We took a few clicks and kept moving.
n kept moving...
Next stop was near Kangla Jal.
And what I see… a view as picturesque as it can be.. Sand formations, a fine play of light and shadow, and to add a sky full of fluffy clouds… We spent sometime here.
As soon as we stopped Rahul started walking further to explore the area and I got him in the shot. Just at the right place to showcase the scale of whole landscape.
Moving forward...
Moving ahead we saw some more of the amazing combination of sand formations, snow laden mountain peaks in the background and river flowing below…. It was truly a heavenly sight…
for a while I stopped clicking just to absorb within me the charisma of that place.
And mind you this one is single shot... many thought it was two photos put together.. but it was just nature...
It was hard to stop clicking though. And realizing that I was running out of memory cards, I started to download the data onto my laptop… missing out a few good shots in the process.
The sun was setting down and the light was fading as we approached more plains.
Time was running out and we had to hurry up. It was already past 7pm. We kept moving… and it was getting darker…
Reached Taglangla Baba around 9pm. We thought we would click a few photos but it was freezing… I went out for a few minutes and rushed back to the warmth of the car. Managed just one shot with the car headlight. :)
That was the last shot of the day. We kept moving and reached Rumse around 11 pm and decide to have our dinner there and looked out for a place to spend the night. But we didn’t find anything suitable. Also most of things were closed as it was reaching mid night in that small village. We decided to head to Upasi for the stay overnight. Reaching there we found everything was shut down, ofcourse because of the dead hour. Not too optimistic about finding anything at all, Pradeep suggested it might be easier to get accommodation in Leh, and he was not the one to mind driving till Leh at all. We didn’t want to strain him but as he was so keen, decided to surge ahead switching to music of his choice… and listening to Mirza Galib and Marasim we reached Leh around 1.30 am. Nitin spoke to a few people and figured out the place for us to stay. Two more calls and we got the direction for Alimjan Guest House.
It was nice cozy place. But that was for later, we just dumped our luggage and were off to bed in a flash. That day was the longest we travelled – in the entire trip.
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