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Le(h) Gayi, Le(h) Gayi…


Just 3 more days before we board our flight to Chandigarh enroute to Leh! It all started with a Facebook message from Jungleore, a company that plans adventure travels, describing their upcoming tour to Ladhak. I forwarded the email to some close friends, one of whom was as interested and flexible with dates and then we began planning…
I spoke to several people about their trips and chatted with many agencies to finally configure our route. Would like to thank Kaustabh at Junglore, Neha at Country wide travels, Shehzaad, Nishreen Aunty, Juzer, Rakesh, Gaurav, Hasnain, Aditya, Devangi, Amanjyot, Aiman, Namrata Kothari, the several agents in Leh and Delhi and the myriad travel blogs and websites that helped us plan our trip. I had no idea so many of my friends had been to Ladhak!
From the various itineraries available online we could figure out the key destinations in Ladhak, but were confused about our access to Leh. Should we drive from Manali or Srinagar or fly directly. The ultimate route I was told is to drive from Manali to Leh and then onwards to Srinagar and fly out of there. The landscape upto Rohtang pass is supposedly lush green vegetation and then it converts to stark barren lands as one approaches Ladhak. On the descent too, we are going to leave behind the dry lands of Ladhak to reach the dense forests in Sonmarg valley through the Zoji La Pass, offering stunning views. So here’s what we are hoping to do:

12th : Chandigarh to Solang
13th: Solang to Sarchu
14th: Sarchu to Leh
2 nights
16th: Leh to Pangong (overnight)
17th : Overnight in Leh
18th: Leh to Nubra (overnight)
19th: Overnight in Leh
20th: Rafting/Trekking (enroute to Alchi preferred)
21st: Alchi to Lamarayu to Kargil (overnight Kargil)
22nd: Kargil to Srinagar (overnight Srinagar)
23rd: Return to Bombay

The simplest option is to just book an organized tour and not have to worry about any bookings, however this option does not give one the flexibility to just be and explore. Alternately, if you are a group of 4, you can rent your own taxis and just head out. This is the ideal way to do your trip, in terms of cost efficiency (taxi cost split 4 ways) and flexibility. Since we are just 2 travelers, we were tempted by the tour, but then decided to just get to Leh through an organizer and once there find other groups to travel with and keep our options open. We booked at Water Mark camp in Pangong (since we are going in peak season) and at the Taj Vivanta in Srinagar (newly opened property) and some hotels in Leh for our first 2 days, and kept the rest open.
We have been advised to carry lots of warm clothes, motion sickness and altitude sickness tablets, hand sanitizer, ID, sun block and cold creams.
Booking camps and hotels has been a nightmare, since most places do not have websites to book directly and the agents in Leh do not confirm via email etc. The agents in Delhi are slightly more professional but bake in a comfortable margin for their service. We are hoping that once we are in Leh, we will be able to figure out the rest of the trip and book taxis, hotels, camps, rafting etc. from there.
I will post details of our trip once back. For now, I’m getting ready to get mesmerized.
Link we found useful: http://www.bcmtouring.com/travel-guides/ladakh-travel-guide/leh-pangong-tso-travel-guide.html


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