LEKHANAGALLU

Musings of a Budding Adventurer - Advaith Sriram

About the place:

Leh, Ladakh is a cold desert. Ladakh is a union territory and is located at an altitude of 3500 m. Leh is the biggest city in Ladakh. The oxygen level is less in high altitude as compared to low altitude and plain areas. So, we started to take medicines two days before our trip.

Did you know: As altitude increases, the amount of gas molecules in the air decreases, and the air becomes less dense than air nearer to sea level. The human body reacts to high altitudes. Decreased air pressure means that less oxygen is available for breathing.

We started our journey one fine morning from Chennai and reached Leh via Delhi. We checked-in at the hotel and relaxed rest of the day because we had to acclimatize to the high altitude. So, we literally did nothing on day 1. Next day, I took school in the morning and around 3 pm we went to Sangam which was a meeting point of two tributaries of Indus River.

We then went to magnetic hill but after 2 hours of being out I got severe headache due to oxygen level. So, we went back to hotel and took rest.

On day 3, after breakfast we started to Nubra valley. On the way, we crossed Khardungla pass which is the highest motorable pass in the world. We stood there for 15 mins to take picture and have a look at that beautiful place.

We continued our journey to Nubra and we reached around 3 pm after a pit shop for lunch. After checking-in, we went to the cold desert, and spent entire evening there. We did sand biking (ATV) and camel riding. We stayed in Nubra valley. Next day, we went to a village called Turtuk. We could see India’s border and Pakistan's border forces on top of the mountain. We came back to Nubra.

On day 5, we started early to Pangong lake. We left around 6.30 am and back to Leh around 6.30 pm. The entire route was super scenic. We packed our breakfast and had it near a beautiful stream. We reached Pangong lake around 11.30 am. It was such a beautiful place. We spent around 2 hours and left.

We crossed second highest pass called Changla pass on our way back. It was too windy that we could not spend more than 5 minutes. We felt extremely difficult to breathe so we had to leave the spot quickly. Finally, reached Leh around 6.30 pm.

We were back to same place in Leh and morning I took school as I didn’t want to miss the school. After school, we went to Leh palace, Shanti Stupa, Zorawar fort and a Kargil war light show. They enacted a lot of incidents happened during the war and I learnt about Maha Vir Chakra award, Param Vir Chakra award etc.

Next morning, I took school and around 3 pm we went to a village called Shey. At Shey, we went to a school where the ‘3 Idiots’ movie was taken. We also went to Shey palace and a monastery.

The following morning, I attended school and we left Leh after lunch and back to Chennai that night.