Our trip started on 25 th of June from Delhi, we took a morning flight to Leh reached around 7.30 am,as accommodation was arranged in an army Guest house we were swept off to the guest house by two army personal Mr C Hazra and Mr Praveen Kumar before we .The whole day went by as we had to make sure we were 
4 pm got ready for the evenings tour....(with excitement bubbling inside me.....alas! I was in Leh)The transportation was also provided, so the jeep with the same two people came to pick us up(one of them remained with us throughout our trip he drove us to all the places we wanted to visit....lucky us!!)....We started with the Shanti Stupa ,similar to that of my hometown's stupa ,the peace pagoda stands magnificently with the barren hills at the backdrop .The white stupa looked beautiful from here we get a breathtaking view of leh.Its peaceful and u would enjoy hanging out during the evening with the cool breeze caressing your cheeks.I felt like sitting quietly & listening to the sound of the breeze as the hustle and bustle of city life faded away .Unfortunately I did not have enough time to sit around the stupa as it was getting late and we still had to visit the Leh palace and the city 
so we moved on.We had some snacks at Amdo restaurant (try "TIM MOMO" a Tibetan delicacy) from where we could get the view of Leh palace cropping out of the rugged hill,it made me think of the time and effort people must have put to built it.Something ancient and beautiful,.however by the time we reached the top it was closed so we never got another chance to go inside(this is what happens when u have so less time and so many place to visit)!!
for travel agencies who would have fleeced us......The next day,was the one I had been waiting for as we were heading to Pangong Tso,I had heard and seen pictures about this lake so I was really excited to visit the place..WE had no idea when to start so we decided to start at 8 am(which was a bad decision)as we should have started earler,.first
of all we were taking an army vehicle and we were not aware of its restriction.We were stopped at a TCP traffic check post,where they informed they will not allow one army vehicle ,it has to be two, so we waited for some time and at that time it looked as if we were done for the day .As we started late and the TCP personal not allowing us to go past that check post,we started 
thinking about the alternatives finally after an hour an army truck was ready to go and finally we were released from this post.Mr Hazra informed us we have to reach the last Tcp before 12 noon(i guess all of us were worried ..if not what will happen do we have to return if we do not reach that TCP BEFORE 12.00 NOON)..we some how managed to cover the distance.We had to cross Chang la pass but we 
were not aware once again we had to carry warm clothes, we had a sweater each but that did not help ward the chilly ,icy mountain breeze which passed through our flimsy clothing and chilled our bones too.All I heard was the clatter of my teeth.,however with all the shortcomings 
was beautiful (check the photos).We got to drink hot tea at the Tcp provided free of cost by the army personal(bless them) which was a relief at least for sometime .Once we reached Chang la we traveled downhill towards Pangong,the roads are quite bad so be prepared to rock and roll..ha ha..the scenery was awesome. Your will never stop with wow,oh god..!!etc,sometimes barren hills,next few minutes mountains,then the green lush valleys around the rivers,the sparkling and gushing streams with cold icy 
Lush green valleys due to the melting snow water on the way to Pangong...
waters, the clear blue sky with puffs of white and pure clouds(which i doubt anyone has seen in 
Delhi)the cool breeze makes you feel its worth it .However u have to endure the never ending roads which twists and turn,and deadly slopes through which you drive,makes this trip so exciting Once we crossed Chang la the landscape changed,the valleys were fed with the water from the hills,so the valley floor was lush green with mossy grass,I drank on to the beauty till I filled up my senses(trying to be poetic)so that I can get the energy while I am back to the plains of Delhi .After crossing lots of TCP's we finally reached Pangong Tso at 2.30 pm .We were lucky enough to get a 
boat ride at the lake though not too far into the lake .The lake as described by other travelers was awesome,actually I had not seen this blue color,accept at the holly hood movies .It had various hues of blue lighter towards the shore and darkest as far as the eyes could see and yet another tinge of blue was the sky at the backdrop of the barren hills!!amazing .
Pangong lake
God must have planned it such as the 
scenery touches your inner spirits .We had an hour to spend as we had to return the same day .There is one more thing that is interesting at Pangong,as soon as u reach Pangong lake you will see the hill marked as Amber hill and you'll see people looking for Amber (semi precious stone) I got two stones with amber in it,though it does not have a monetary value its precious to me as I had to 
put in my best effort to find it.I am proud of it,I gave one of them to my dearest friend liza who was with me(coz she did not find a big stone and she was upset..ha ha) after an hour we started our upward journey towards Chang la,while returning it was evening and all the rivers were swollen with waters from the icy mountains,the roads which were dry while going towards Pangong were flooding on our return,that was surprising!! WE reached Leh around 11 pm,and the restaurants in 
the city were already closed for dinner so we raced back to our guest house and had our dinner,by the end of the day we were so exhausted that we fell asleep as soon as we landed on our heavenly beds !!
Thiskey monastery
We covered almost all the monastries except Hemis and Lamayuru,we had planned to visit Lamayuru,but after the long day at Pangong we thought 
cutting short the trip on the last day would be a better option.So we covered Shey,Stok,Thiskey,Alchi,Likir and Basco palace.The statue of Buddha at Basco was the biggest,the paintings on the statue in Alchi was unique,I loved the quite of this place .Someday if I will go back.I would like to spend some time here in the village,though I felt the villagers were not so happy to see us around(might be coz alot of tourist venture into their heartland....)
The statue of buddha at Likir Monastery
The village is sleepy no sounds of children,not even birds,the only sound you hear is the sound of gushing streams which flows in small rivulets through the village,it sounds creepy when u are used to the hustle and bustle of city life ,here u can experience total silence!Just a walk through the village made me head over heels in love with the place.
Gushing streams cut thru the village ,all we can hear in the village is the sound of water running thru,coz of its sound people cannot be heard.
Views from Alchi,first the Alchi monastery,second is Alchi village
Next we visited Likir monastery.......it was beautiful too ,hidden from the prying eyes nestled on a hill top,overlooking the valley below,I guess here we saw the most beautiful wall paintings, 
comparatively to that of Alchi where it was weather beaten it might be it was touched up on,The Buddha statue overlooking the hills on the outside looks stunning,here you can see little lamas in their classroom,the last visit was on our way back to Leh at Basco,Basco had a different charm with the palace in ruins I just wondered how the people had managed to erect the palace .The ruins tells the story of the era bygone,here too we saw the monastery there were three parts.We we
re offered butter tea which I was dying to taste,we(liza and me) in fact liked the taste and we drank two glass each.,some kind of preparations were going on for the next day's puja so some lamas had come from Likir monastery for the same,we were invited to join in the celebrations the next day ,we reluctantly refused as we were flying back to Delhi the next day.
The basco palace,the lady at Basco.....
So our day came to an end after the visit to Bacso palace.
We might have given a miss to this place if Mr Delux owner of Tso kar hotel had not mentioned it to us,so our memorable holiday came to an end,however i have left visit to Khardungla to the last,will write about it after some time(don't have time....i keep filling in when i get time form work.......??) The exciting ride to Khardungla started on 28 June,two of us liza and me decided to proceed towards Khardungla however Saaz went towards Pheyang to experience the village stay.
We started around 8 am as we knew there would be no food on the way to Khardungla we bought some food like the Tibet bread and t momo and some vegetables .We started on the jeep that was provided to us,we had a long day ahead.We started the uphill climb from Leh and as soon as we took to the winding uphill roads the town of Leh receded to the background .At Khardungla
We could see the awesome view of the Leh town on the valley floor,the scenery was as usual with barren hills all around and most surprising was some hills had small plants growing and some were bare .
The roads were narrow and we could not drive fast as there were danger of land
sliding ,while passing one such bend we saw some lorries which had fallen in the gorge,my mind was alert !!I guess caution is best to save oneself.The weather was getting colder as we gained in height towards the pass we could feel the kiss of icy breeze on our nose , where the tip of the nose turns chilly cold due to inhaling cold air.The day was pleasant however there was some drizzling in some places,when we reached the top it was biting cold
due to fresh snowfall,we did experience a light snowfall for sometime but the next moment the sun was out and the snow disappeared .Liza experienced her first Snowfall,the scenery was breathtaking,but more than the scenery the experience of being on top of 18383 feet was great .All I had heard was the highest motorable pass but going to that place gave me a feeling 'oh I am here '!!it felt great.It was difficult to run due 
to less oxygen,you tend to feel tired and out of breath to such an extent that you'll feel you'll drop dead the next moment,ha ha you feel as if your heart will pop out and give out on u.After we reached the top there was a small cafe operated by army where you can get Maggie (2 minute noodles) and tea, I had heard there were no stalls ,this was a surprise,we tried to hike to the top of the cliff , there were some rocky formation,At 18380 feet,world's highest motorable pass
looking up from below looks like you'll make it in 2 minutes,you'll get the first blow once you start climbing the stairs.It was a slow process,but the feeling was great,where you would be breathless just walking few steps.I thought it would take an eternity to reach the top,however I managed step by step,i kept wondering how people climb mountains when it was difficult for me to climb mere 20 steps at 18000 feet,hats off to them.The view from the top was great,oh no not only great,I cannot describe please readers add your own adjectives whichever describes the beauty which you can experience but cannot describe,where the clouds come to greet
you,looking down from the top of the mountain (i am describing this one as mountain as it was filled with snow)and it felt great to be on top of one,after our lunch we spent some more time there bought some souvenirs as well,coz it was a mark of achievement for me,. this was my Everest climb,ha ha.Girl's on top of Khardungla top
I love to trek but I know it must be difficult however I would like to try once in my life.We wanted to proceed towards Nubra valley however we did not have enough time in hand so we decided against it, we met a lot of foreigners two of them were on a biking(bicycle)trip to Nubra,one was from Holland wearing a funny body suit and the other from USA we got to chat for sometime,we sat to have food then realized they were eating just dry bread one of then ate with a banana must be for energy as they had to ride uphill they did not carry foods,I asked them what do they eat ,they replied anything they get on the way,I felt pity so I offered the tmomo with hot vegetables,they accepted thankfully ate it and left.We met a group of Indian bikers as well(motor),Liza insisted we take photographs on the bike,I was 
feeling awkward as to how would I climb the bike and act as if I am riding, the stationary bike!(I know everyone will laugh when they see the photos)however its done so I don't care ..so after the photo sessions we started towards Leh,and left Khardungla the HIGHEST MOTORABLE PASS behind only to remain in our memory for the times to come.I am on the right liza in the middle
HATS OFF TO YOU GUYS(THE BORDER ROAD ORGANISATION FORCE) WHO MADE IT POSSIBE FOR US TO REACH KHARDUNGLA AND GET A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE TO BE IN THE HIGHEST MOTORABLE PASS.
