Preface
After reaching Leh on the previous day on our bike trip to Leh Ladakh in October ’24 and then heading to Khardung La we finally halted at Diskit almost 120kms away from the beautiful city of Leh. After an acclimatization day and journey straight to 18,000 ft we had already experienced the best of Ladakh. Read it here.
Plan for the day
So the plan for the day was
Diskit -> Hunder -> Bogdang -> Turtuk -> Thang ->Hunder
It was just a beautiful journey of 200kms, with mostly secluded, yet some of the best views of Karakoram range. Some areas were very close to PoK. We could see military vehicles everywhere, with the legendary Thoise AFS.
Getting ready for the ride
As we were well adjusted with the bike, we didn’t spend much time on preparing ourselves for the long, yet an amazing ride. We tied our essentials quickly and got ready within no time. Our bike was in good condition and the mileage was pretty good as well. Also we made our tank full on the diversion before Panamik and hence the fuel in this route wasn’t a trouble at all.
The road for today’s journey
Today’s journey is one among the least explored and one of the most beautiful journeys of the entire Ladakh bike ride. Usually everyone comes until Hunder and then takes a turn back to Pangong later, but the journey from Hunder to Turtuk is not explore by everyone. This road goes parallel to the pretty Shyok river and comparatively narrow.
Mostly the local people, army vehicles and few bikers visit this road and hence hardly crowded along the way. The views around as actually surreal with weird mountain patterns and the pretty river. This road runs very close to PoK and ends at Thang after Turtuk where PoK actually starts. This is one of the few roads in Ladakh which is very close to PoK apart from the Kargil sector areas.
Departing from Hunder
We started from Hunder siting the beautiful sand dunes, with small huts all around. The weather was kind of dry but was cold as well. The roads was mostly empty with few military vehicles crossing sometimes. We first sited Thoise AFS very clearly and I was literally mesmerized to see a huge airforce base so closely for the first time. I could also spot some fighter jets too on the ground, which again was the first time.
Thoise Airforce Station
Thoise actually means Transit Halt Of Indian Soldiers Enroute (to Siachen). This is like a feeder airbase for surrounding military airforce stations including Siachen. So many transport aircrafts fly to Leh and Chandigarh on this airforce base. This is a very tricky airfield and hence pilot require very high level of precision and skills to land at this runway.
An amazing bike ride
Later part of the journey was just we and our bikes in a pitch silent valley in between the huge mountains, with a beautiful river flowing beside us. The surrounding views were absolutely surreal and worth experiencing. We reached Bogdang far beyond Turtuk which has a very long historical significance. Before the 1971 war, all the areas beyond Bogdang was under the control of PoK.
Story of Bogdang
In the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Indian forces took control of all the villages after Bogdang until Tyakshi including Turtuk, Thang and many small ones. There’s even a school built by Pakistan in Turtuk even today. So all these people were actually citizens of Pakistan, now turned out to be the citizens of India and this happened just within a night.
In this turmoil many people got displaced and some people were living on the other side of the border making them separate overnight and since then they have to follow legal procedures to cross the border to meet their loved ones. Even many families staying in now staying in Indian side villages had their lands on the Pakistan side and hence had to loose it as well.
Thang: The last village of India
Our main destination for the day was Thang village, the last point of India which is metres away from PoK. On the way we crossed many bridges and beautiful land points which is a rare occurrence even in the entire Ladakh valley. So beautiful was the journey towards the the last village before PoK.
Turtuk is the major village in this area and its called the last village in Indian border, but Tyakshi and Thang villages lies in Indian territory after PoK border. But tourists can only stay in Tyakshi not in Thang or even Turtuk is a good place to stay.
Story of border and PoK
We reached Thang at afternoon where there’s a memorial kind of thing where tourists can site the first village of PoK named Pharnu where many family members of Indian villages in Thang, Tyakshi, Turtuk have been actually staying there till now. There’s a small ground kind of thing, which has an Indian flag and few shops along with a guide.
The Shyok river flows behind this point and enters PoK at this point. Pharnu village is the first village in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of the PoK. There’s an old family in this border point and an old man explains all the tourists regarding the history of the place and its separation. He also has some of his family members in the other side of the border whom he has never met after that. He is one of the rarest person who has witnessed it live that too when he was fully grown.
The PoK area
Around this area we find many bunkers of India Army along the way which were used in 1971 war and the current bunkers which they used to patrol the border areas. The local people staying here are also very less and one should be very careful regarding mistakenly crossing the border which becomes a serious legal issue from the other side of the border.
A great sense of patriotism comes around when visiting such places and after knowing the brave operations of our armed forces. Its such an amazing experience visiting such amazing places of national importance. Ladakh is a complete package in terms of all these amazing experiences. Mesmerizing views, amazing lakes, humble people, soldiers, fellow tourists and much much more.
So we roamed around Thang near the border area, took a binocular to get a better view of PoK and spent some good time with the family, clicked some good pics before leaving the place. We left soon to reach Hunder by night as we had a long and an amazing journey coming up ahead.
The return ride
The return journey again was on the same way, but it was one of the most memorable day of my life for many reasons. This lovely valley has so many surprises filled all over and hence an absolute paradise for someone who loves exploring and adventurous in nature. The next day we would be visiting Diskit, the most famous Buddha statue at the monastery and then heading towards another amazing lake, the Pangong.
