Last leg of our trip had us excited about finally exploring the
magnificent PangongTso which eluded us eleven years back. Happily we started
off on our well planned single day trip to the iconic beauty . Within a couple of hours we were greeted by
fresh snowfall on the climb to Chang La (pass). It was beautiful and I was
happily frolicking in the snow hoping that it will stop pretty soon. This
snowfall though was a driver’s nightmare and soon led to a roadblock with vehicles skidding on
the road. Our driver Lopsang tried his best to drudge ahead by digging out soil
and spreading that on the road to facilitate the movement of the vehicle .Some
others pulled out the chains and used that on the tyres to manoeuvre on snow
covered roads. It did work for some time and we were hopeful that the snowfall
would stop, not that we had any option. However after a couple of hours of trying
unsuccessfully to move, our driver began to give up like many others. The
vehicles kept skidding and it appeared unsafe to move. Most vehicles started
turning around and this was a very logical thing to do since we had not covered
even 1/3rd of our journey.
This was my 2nd visit to Ladakh and I
didn’t want to miss PangongTso again. I just had to see it this time. An
approaching 4 by 4 SUV (Audi Q3) seemed like the kind of vehicle which would be
able to cross any terrain and to my husband’s extreme discomfiture I asked for
a lift. Luckily at the time they also wished to return to Leh the same night
and agreed to take us along. Thus we hopped in the vehicle with 3 strangers
from the capital city who had been friends with each other for 35 years. Isn’t
that amazing? The journey began .We reached Changla Pass (by some accounts 5360
m above sea level and arguably the third highest drivable pass in Ladakh)amid
freezing temperatures. We were faced with a huge snowstorm. An avalanche blocked the road , But these
guys were not the ones to give up “Himmat-E-mardan, madad-E-khuda” was what N
said to M and M whose car was blocked by a snow-dozer sans operator, decided to
take matters in his hands. He got into it, keyed in and cleared the path for
our ride to move ahead. Soon, the actual
dozer operator arrived and was cross at our friend for using his dozer without
permission. With a delay of a couple of hours, we were on our way courtesy the
Border Roads Organisation. There were still another couple of blocks and
returning to Leh that same night seemed impossible. The company’s enthusiasm
rubbed on us and we thought what the heck, let’s finish what we started and continued.The
jam worsened because of vehicles returning to Leh along the narrow passage and
everybody jostling to pass instead of queuing up .
There’s only one café at Chang La and that was bursting
at the seams with people. The strong winds lashed the door which could not be
shut and the place was icy cold. The only things available there were maggi and
chai. We quickly finished our tea and rushed to the comfort of the car. Once
downhill the landscape began to transform. From snow clad mountains to huge rocks and gravelly road, it was such a
welcome change, however all that driving coupled with the weather and altitude
did give some of us nausea and headache.
We managed to reach PangongTso just
after twilight and yet the view was something! We discovered that we were the
only ones who successfully journeyed that day. We chose the home stay option
and M despite having driven for over 13 hours and fighting a nasty headache
wanted to cook dal for us. I was left in awe. The homeowners were very helpful
and even offered to lend me clothes since it was an unplanned halt and I didn’t
have any change. The lady of the house made some amazing kali dal, sabzi and
rotis for us which tasted ambrosial that night. Exhausted
we crashed in our beds.
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