Road to Leh

Ladakh

Ladakh which literally translates to the land of passes seems more or less like a lost kingdom when you reach there, the culture, the people, and the religion is nothing like what you find in the rest of India. But thankfully you slowly get accustomed to the traditions very much like the way you get acclimatized to the high altitudes as you move ahead on the beautiful road from Srinagar to Leh.

Road to Leh

Day 1

I already did my sighting of the Himalayas from the flight that was descending over the Srinagar airport, but the might of Himalayas is not something you can enjoy from the top, you have to be beneath it to really acknowledge its looming presence. I could already feel the change in weather, the pleasantness of the air and the beautiful nature surroundings as we disembarked on our Journey from Srinagar towards Leh. Our driver was waiting right outside Srinagar airport and all I knew about him beforehand was that his name was Ghulam, I had thought of him as some Kashmiri young guy with Afghani features but to my surprise here was a middle aged man with Mongolian looks. As the tires began to roll, he told us he was a Ladakhi and a resident of Leh, which perplexed me a little for I had thought Ladakh was all about Buddhists but then I came to know later that Ladakh has over 40 percent Muslim population. He was a friendly old guy and has been driving in these mountains since 1982.

The pleasant weather was very welcoming as we moved along the streets of Srinagar, the culture was evident with the noticeable domes and spires standing along the streets, to watch the timber and brick houses with gabled roofs passing by was equally amusing, the voice of the muezzin from a nearby mosque as he called for a prayer sounded soulful, the mood was overall welcoming but there were some disturbing vibes too for I could see there were military men at a distance of every five hundred meters guarding the streets of Srinagar, staring at every car with suspicion, the streets walls were a testimony to the tension in Kashmir as the graffiti loudly spoke “Free Kashmir” and “Indian dogs get out of Kashmir”. So here I was in paradise torn apart with violence. Welcome to Kashmir.

The road from Srinagar till Sonamarg had lush green tall mountains surrounding from every side, with clouds sitting at their peaks. The monsoon was evident but in a very pleasant way, the air was misty with a pinch of wetness and the wipers of the cars had to stay active all the time to mop the tiny droplets off the windscreen.

As we moved ahead we reached the gateway to Ladakh ‘The Zoji la Pass’ the first pass into the land of passes that stands at 11,575 ft, the mountains from here slowly began to turn barren and naked. The roads began to constrict to the point where our car had to literally stand at the edge of the cliff to let the coming vehicle pass.

But having being surrounded by Himalayas is a very distinctive feeling. The mountains keep changing its characteristics every half hour, the rocks changes its form, colour, shape and size as we keep moving ahead. This feeling of having being so up close and personal with the Himalayas was pretty novel and amusing for me, the last time I had been closer to Himalayas was in Himachal, but being in Kashmir is altogether something else.

The roads ahead to Leh (and in the entire Ladakh region) are constructed and maintained (on a very regular basis) by Border Roads Organisation or BRO, it would be very apt indeed to call them BRO not only for their commendable job but also the messages that BRO keeps on passing in the form of road signs, these are not only big brotherly but also very imaginative and humorous. The most popular is I guess ‘Peep, Peep, Don’t Sleep’ and then there are others too ‘Feel the curves, do not test them’, ‘Drive like Hell, you’ll be there’.

We arrived at Drass at around six in the evening after leaving Srinagar at around eleven in the morning, and all that we have covered so far is 150 kilometres  well these are mountain paths, it does take time and patience to cross these miles even on wheels. We had planned to stay the night at Kargil but now we were hungry and had to stop for chow. But fortunate as we were, during the month of Ramadan especially after the Iftaar when finding a meal gets a little difficult in these places, we had an amazing chicken curry (the curry was so flavoursome  the flavours still linger in my mouth every time I think about it) and Kava, the Kashmiri tea, something I had only heard about so far and was pleasantly surprised on having tasted it. There’s no milk and is sweet in its own way, leaves a pleasant after-taste.

The night stay at Kargil was not exactly comfy, the first upset came when the hotel which we had booked denied any such reservations, but then we went to Hotel Siachen (supposed to be the best in town), a Hotel with pretty much a Kashmiri architecture, but with no hot water, not so comfy beds, regular power outages, and being the month of Ramadan, the muezzin’s voice coming from a nearby mosque for the entire night didn’t quite help me with a good sleep. For that matter, when we showed a little distaste towards the room conditions, the manager himself told us, it’s just a matter of one night, I guess you folks wouldn’t have much problem adjusting. We were tired and even ready to sleep in the car if need arises, so we didn’t actually have much problem adjusting.

Day 2

As gloomy was our night, the day came with a nice fresh breeze and a cheerful view of mountains from the hotel lobby, something that the dark of the night had obscured when we came in. I was still overcoming the awe that the mountains had created in my mind yesterday and had not quite anticipated that the journey today through the Ladakhi Mountains would actually send me into raptures.

We had left early so we decided to have our breakfast on our way, so our first stop on our way to Leh was at Mulbek , a sleepy town where a huge Maitreya Buddha statue carved out of single stone has been standing since the 7^th century.

Our next stop was Fotu La, the highest point on Srinagar-Leh highway. On stepping out of the car, we found the cold wind was literally slapping in our face. At 13,479 ft, it was freezing like hell; a few Welsh bikers too had taken a halt here while coming back from Leh. We struck a conversation with them which I regretted later for they were very chatty and wouldn’t stop and I so wanted to back into the car. I was wearing only a T-shirt whilst they were all decked-up in their biking gear. The chat wasn’t very interesting enough for me thanks to their accent and the cold weather, but I did agree on a point that one of these old guy in a Triumph Jacket had to say, “its amusing” he said “Never seen so many seasons in one day”. He was right, since the morning I had seen rain, this freezing cold, the hot sun and then a pretty pleasant weather when we reached Leh.

The Road to Leh was indeed very spectacular, the barren mountains kept me in awe for the entire journey today, so did the Indus that flows along the road at many places. The Lamayuru Monastery which is one of the oldest in Ladakh is one of the attractions on the road, though most of the monastery is standing on its last legs, it still remains spectacular and peaceful and certainly takes you back in a time. The Pathar Sahib Gurudwara and the Magnetic Hill are another couple of tourist attractions that you get to see on the road to Leh. The Magnetic Hill is actually a gravity hill and forms a sort of optical illusion that manages to fool people to switch off their car engines and watch it move uphill.

I also wrote a little poem about my experience on the Road to Leh.

Driving on the land of passes

through the magnetic hills

across the silk route

into a rural idyll

climbing the higher altitudes

where the air turns thin

in a breathless space

the whispering wind grins

the cold mystical breeze

blows in my face

the road it moves ahead

in its winding ways

seeking for a utopian land

I ride the road to Leh

leaving behind the bustle

of encumbered days

the mists of dawn

glowing beyond the heights

spreading slowly across

the star filled skies

the turquoise spaces reflect

upon the calm waters

creating a scene surreal

marvelling the trotter

the prayer flags flutters

colouring the sky

high above a monastery

stands on the ethereal side

seeking for you there

I ride along the Indus

taking your name

in the moments of hush

The above travelogue is from my trip to Ladakh in August 2012. I'll soon update here the notes from my journal for the rest of the trip. Hope you'll like it.