mumbai and beyond: Up and over the 3rd highest motorable road in the world to ride a yak! {oh, and to see Pangong Tso}

Whilst still in Ladakh, the next day {10th August} we left Leh and headed out onto the Changla Pass which the highest point is 17500ft/5334m above sea level. We were on our way to Pangong Tso, a large saline lake. Another spectacular drive! And I can say, I'm so grateful we had a driver as I don't think I'd be up for negotiating some of those bends!

prayer flags at the top

Chemeth our guide next to Charlotte and Shabir our driver next to him

prayer flags and bells

The drive was 135km and took around 5 hours to reach the lake. When we got to the lake, we stopped for lunch. Afterwards, Andrew and Charlotte went yak riding! It was very funny to watch! The yaks are not very big {at least these two weren't} and I'm sure that if Andrew took his feet out of the stirrups he could touch the ground. It appeared that their handlers were husband and wife and the yaks belonged to them…..think that this was their little business during the short summer, tourist months…it was around £1.50 to ride a yak for no more than 15mins….I had to run to keep up with them so I could take photos!

Charlotte on her yak!

this photo makes me laugh a lot…Charlotte peeking round Andrew and Andrew is looking as pleased as punch!

it doesn't look like it but these yaks were almost at a trot!

Mr and Mrs 'Yak' {I have no idea what their names were!} with their yaks

Mrs 'Yak' {we had lunch in the building just seen above her head}

Mr & Mrs

Mrs 'Yak'

The 'Yak' family home!

After the yak riding, we drove for another 15 to 20 minutes before we reached our accommodation for the night. We dropped our bags off and went for a wonder along the lake shoreline. When we got back to the tents, the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped and by the time we went to bed, there was quite a gale blowing and it was well below 10 degrees {with the windchill factor}.

Pangong Lake

the settlement {holiday/tourist accommodation} at Pangong Lake

a panoramic view from our tented accommodation

this was such a gorgeous rented rose…a rambling rose bush alongside the lake

a lady tending her field

Charlotte didn't quite have the right shoes for the amble a long the lake {it was very wet and marshy in places} so she walked a little further inland with our guide Chemeth; they had to remove a few rocks to get over the wall {which they put back}

the wind has picked up somewhat

love the sign

sunset

dusk

and so to bed {dressed in all our warm clothing!}

Pangong Tso - Tibetan for "high grassland lake" is also referred to as Pangong Lake, is an endorheic {internally drained, having no outlet} lake in the Himalayas and it is situated at a height of about 4,350m or 14,270ft. It is 134 km (83 miles) long and extends from India to China. Approximately 60% of the length of the lake lies in China. The lake is 5 km (3.1 miles) wide at its broadest point. All together it covers 604 km2. During winter the lake freezes completely despite being saline water. It is not part of Indus river basin area and geographically a separate land-locked river basin. We tasted the water and it is indeed salty. The colour of the lakes changes throughout the day, sometimes 4 or 5 times - gorgeous hues of blues and greens and that's what we saw of our first glimpse. Later on in the afternoon it was grey!

beautiful blues of the lake

We got up early the following morning to watch the sunrise and as the clouds moved off the mountains behind us, fresh snow covered the peaks appeared….guessing that's why it was so cold the night before and early in the morning. After breakfast we hit the road heading back up over the pass to Leh where we spent the night (11th) before flying back to Mumbai the following day.