Preface
After exploring the mighty Khardung La Pass, we straightway headed towards Nubra Valley to explore Hunder, Diskit along with the hidden destinations such as Turtuk and PoK border. Then we reached Hunder by night and stayed there before proceeding to the most awaited Pangong Lake. Read our experience here.
Plan for the day
So the plan for the day was exploring the majestic views of Nubra Valley by visiting Diskit Monastery and the famous Buddha statue, the famous one of Ladakh. Then heading towards Pangong Lake and overnight stay right infront of Pangong lake and star gazing at night and exploring the beautiful lake in the early morning.
Hunder->Diskit->Khalasr->Agham->Shyok->Tangtse->Pangong Lake
It was just a beautiful yet a very very challenging journey of 164kms, with mostly secluded, yet some of the best views of Karakoram range. First half of the journey took almost more than half of the day due to the very rough roads.
Getting ready for the ride
The bike was in very good condition and till now there wasn’t any issue with fuel as well. Also we would get a fuel pump on the way and also just before Pangong Lake at Tangtse. But we weren’t aware that the road to Pangong would surprise us to such a large extent.
The Beautiful Village of Nubra – Diskit
As we departed from Hunder, we reached Diskit just after 8-9kms. Its a very tiny yet a very beautiful village situated at a higher altitude. One can get the best views of Nubra Valley along with the beautiful Shyok rive from the hill which we were going now. This village is very famous for the monastery as we mentioned before.
The monastery is located at a higher altitude than the village. There’s a large monastery along with the Buddha statue here. Yet the statue is very beautiful with the mesmerizing views of the surrounding mountains along with the pretty Shyok river. Things appear much beautiful during the snowfall when the complete area is covered with thick blanket of snowfall.
Departing from Diskit
Once we explored the monastery in Diskit, we straight away headed towards Pangong lake without any delay as we were already getting late and had a long unfamiliar road ahead. We got a fuel pump on the way where we filled our tanks for a long journey. We weren’t aware of the road ahead and didn’t meet much riders who were taking the same route.
Once we were out of Nubra we encountered a diversion which leads to Siachen base camp. Its a recent update that tourists can travel upto a certain base camp near Siachen glacier and for this we had to take another north route in this diversion which also has Panamik hot springs on the way. This would take another day and also would be a straight return journey, so we didn’t take this journey. So we straightaway continued to Pangong Lake.
The deadly roads along Shyok Valley
Once we exited the Leh main road from Khalsi, the rough patch of road started. The road was so terrible, so terrible that we weren’t even aware if this road actually leads to somewhere or not. Also we were hardly siting any other vehicles around. The road was completely rocky with some potholes filled with water coming from the melted glaciers. The condition would be much worser during the monsoon season.
We were going on and going on the rocky patch, very rough, risking our bike but no other option. This isn’t the actual road, the actual road was closed due to repair work and the road we were traveling didn’t even exist on Google Maps. So the afternoon heat and the broken road was a terrible experience. We also were scared of being lost as well, hence the journey was much scary as well.
We finally got a metaled road, with no clue of any vehicles or any villages to a very large distance. This was the proper road which we describe the journey in Ladakh. A pretty flowing river, huge huge range of snow capped mountains, no traces of any other creatures and riding bike in such an amazing terrain is such an awful experience.
Journey along Shyok river
On the whole way we were right beside Shyok river, as it originates after Pangong Lake and continues to Pakistan after Thang. So since past 2-3 days, it was our roommate kind of thing. The river was getting thinner and thinner since we were heading towards its origin place. The views along the river was literally some of the best in Ladakh.
The legendary DS-DBO road
As we crossed Shyok village, we were in a terrible terrain in the valley. We were at a very high altitude and rapidly descending in a very very narrow roads without any bars at the end of the road. The road was better but had mud on the way as well. So traction was a major problem here. Once we got down completely, we finally entered the legendary Durbuk-Shyok Daulat Beg Oldie road, which connects Durbuk to Daulat Beg Oldie.
This all weather road is a major milestone in securing our borders and having an uninterrupted supply of logistics to remote areas such as Daulat Beg Oldie and many bases along the way. Even the Galwan valley is located on the same road. The Colonel Chewang Rinchen Setu is a famous bridge which is the Highest Bailey Bridge of the world which comes along the way.
In such a remote and very difficult terrain, it’s such an amazing remarkable achievement by BRO connecting such strategically important locations of Indian land. So our road from Shyok joined this DS-DBO road and we continued cruising on this well paved single lane butter smooth highway. Again Shyok was flowing swiftly along with us and we could see some movement of troops as well.
Reaching Durbuk
Once we reached DS-DBO road it didn’t take much time to reach Durbuk on this road as the road was extremely good. We were so done with the broken roads on the way along with the broken roads on the way. We were facing too much of backpain and our riding gears were totally muddy as well. We took a small halt to sip a lovely coffee on a beautiful evening.
The final stretch to Pangong Lake
Once we left Durbuk, Tangtse was not much far and we took the main highway to Pangong. This double lane highway was no less than expressway. The roads were as smooth as butter and I was consistently riding 100+ easily in all the stretches. We passed through a spot which was used to shoot the movie Jab tak hai jaan and without stop, cruising and cruising until the road looked so smooth.
The road had proper markings, radiums and empty as well, so I was gearing up to the max even when the road was pitch dark. It was one hell of an experience actually.
Reaching Pangong Lake
Finally we reached the most awaited Pangong Lake. The lake was right in front of us, but we couldn’t see due to the dark timing. Actually the lake is almost 200+kms wide and very wide as well. We had just reached the starting point of the lake from Indian side. So where to stay was a big trouble.
We found some camps just after entering the Pangong Lake start and then took turn to the camp right infront of the Pangong Lake. The cold was getting intense as well and the surroundings was pitch dark, so we didn’t take any risk of going ahead and finding the room. Morning we realized the road went so closely with the lake without any barrier and one mistake would have drowned us in the lake itself.
Conclusion
So went to the the camp and negotiated the cost to the best possible rate and got freshened up, came out to view the lovely skies with a lovely pattern of beautiful stars. We had a great time watching things in our naked eyes which no camera can cover. This was the story of our adventurous and memorable journey to the lake, where the real picture was coming up tomorrow.
