Feeling High – Leh and Pangong Lake

When Naveen said he was coming in June, the hottest month in India, I knew there was only one place we could go – as far north as possible. So we headed to Ladakh, India, a region in the Himilayas that is also known as “The Land of High Passes”. In fact, the 3 highest passes in the world are all right there (we went over the 3rd highest, but the other two were still pretty flooded from melting glaciers). To get there, we flew into the highest commercial airport in the world, and after a day of adjusting to the altitude, went to check out these high passes. We spent over 10 hours of driving through winding, bumpy, icy roads and could not take our eyes off the scenery, which varied a LOT. Every now and then we’d stop to check out the wildlife, or stop at a nomads tent for some tea (luckily our driver was well known in the area). The prize at the end of the drive (all the way to the border of China) was the insanely blue Pangong Lake. The high altitude, lack of pollination, high salt content, and limestone rocks sounding the lake all combine to make quite the blue scene. Frozen for much of the year, we were lucky to see it on a perfectly clear day and took full advantage – snapping away with our cameras.

Enjoy the photos, they are from the Lake, crossing over the Changla pass, and a few from a dance procession in the city, Leh.

India “Fact”: Our guide, was from a village just 20 minutes from Pangong Lake. In the winter, she said it can get up to almost -100° celsius, and they had no heat, just a fire! She said her skin would always crack open when she went outside. Since we were there in June, I was in heaven because the weather was a perfect 75° F but the local people kept saying, “come inside, it’s too hot out there!” I guess it’s all what’ you’re used to…..