Pangong Lake

It was the fourth day of our stay in Leh and we had to go to Pangong Lake that day. I was excited about that one much before even my end-sems started. It is the last scene from the movie 3 Idiots. We had breakfast, Diamox (a medicine for mountain sickness) and off we were for a beautiful treat. The roads were not the typical mountain roads. They were less steep and not very sharp turns. More like a snake. People tend to drink a lot in the area to ward off the chill. Thus there was a high chance of a road accident. The BRO (Border Road Organisation) not only had done a very commendable job by providing transport at such heights but also put some really intriguing lines.

I am curvaceous, please be gentle on my curves.

I love you too, but we should slow things.

The path to the lake required us to cross a peak at 17,586 ft. called Changla. We saw snow covered mountains throughout

the journey, but we never thought we would actually be on top of one.

Feeling snow was one of the things of my personal list of to do before dying. And so was it done. It was beautiful. White with a tinge of  brown everywhere

. Then we saw frozen lakes, Yaks, some greenery, icicles and bumpy roads.

We finally got there. Blue. I had never seen anything more amazing. Crystal clear water. We even put a coin in to see the clarity. A cool breeze blowing, some seagulls brown mountains and blue sky. The water was chilled, clear and not very surprisingly salty (Himalayas formed from the seas). The lake as we got to know later even extends into the China border and is 160Km in length. Guess it freezes to an extent during

winters but it always remains blue (thanks

to a comparative lower rate of tourists). The scenery was good enough to make any random click a postcard.