Ladakh in October

[jpoddar]

It was late in the night on Oct 10th 2018 when we started our journey. We are a family of 4, my kids are 8 years and 5 years old.
All were very excited, reached Bangalore International Airport for our flight to Delhi, which was scheduled at 12:30 am.
Our travel to Delhi Airport was all routine and uneventful. My kids were very excited though for the aeroplane take-off experience.
At Delhi airport we had to change terminal, a not so pleasant experience with luggage and kids at 3:30 am in the morning..
From Delhi, our Air Asia flight for Srinagar took-off at 6 am as scheduled. Again an uneventful one..
At Srinagar airport we were greeted by a cloudy and cold weather.

We were on our way for a 12 day long journey in Kashmir Valley and Ladakh. The trip was a bit ambitious given the age of the kids and it was middle of October. It was very very cold.

However, the views were majestic. With fresh snowfall and autumn colors, I'm convinced that October is the best time to go to Ladakh, if you can endure the cold.

Following is the itinerary that we managed to follow:

Day1- Fly-in to Srinagar before 8. Move to Sonmarg. Do local sightseeing.
Day2- Crossed Zojila and reached Kargil. Night stay at Kargil.
Day3- Visited Humbuting La and Batalik, come back to Kargil for night stay.
Day4- Visited Lamayuru. Reached Leh and stay at night.
Day5- Night stay at Leh. Local sightseeing.
Day6- Started for Nubra valley. Night stay at Sumur.
Day7- Visited Warshi and Panamik. Night stay at Hunder.
Day8- Started early for Pangong Tso through Shyok. Stayed at Merak.
Day9- Went to Tsomoriri via Chusul. Stayed at night.
Day10- Reached Leh via Chumathang.
Day11- Rest day at Leh.
Day12- Flew out of Leh before noon.

We took a cab from Srinagar. One of my colleagues' relative, Shabir Ahmed, drove me from Srinagar to Leh. We went to his home and enjoyed legendary Kashmiri hospitality. Had a wonderful time traveling with him. He has a number of vehicles to choose from.
Contact: +91 88038 00602, +91 94190 13667

From Leh we traveled with Inder, as suggested by Yogesh. Again this was a wonderful trip. I'd recommend Inder (aka Tsweng Dorjey) any day. He is warm, helpful and a very good driver.
Contact: +91 99069 71501.

 

[jpoddar]

I have an ex-colleague from Srinagar. His relative Mr. Shabir Ahmed has a taxi business. I spoke to him about our journey and requested him to send a car.
To our surprise Shabir bhai came himself to receive us at the airport and told that he himself was going to drive us to Leh. We were pretty delighted.
But that was not to be before we visited his home and had breakfast. My kids were already struggling in the cold. The warmth inside home, hospitality and food soothed them as well. It was that legendary Kashmiri hospitality at a Kashmiri's home that set up the prelude of our trip.
We started for Sonmarg shortly. We did not plan for a stay at Srinagar. May be sometime later..
A few photos taken en route..

 

[jpoddar]

The day was overcast. We moved towards Sonmarg. It was beautiful, though I could not take good photos due to the light condition.
But we enjoyed thoroughly. Kids were super excited about the horse ride to the glacier.
Following are a few photos. As mentioned above, quality of photos are not good because of light conditions. Some of these are mobile shots.

 

[jpoddar]

We stayed at a hotel called Rah Villas. It was good but was 20 kms behind Sonmarg. Also it was fairly expensive. Services and food was pretty good though. The room had good heater and the bed was also had a heating mattress. We had a fairly comfortable night stay at Sonmarg. It was important especially for the kids since they suddenly got exposed to the October cold of Kashmir.

Next morning was a bright sunny day. We started for our journey towards Kargil though Zojila Pass.

 

[jpoddar]

We moved on to Zojila. It was a bright sunny day on October 12. The views were mesmerizing. There were fresh snowfall on previous few days, that added to the majestic views of the valleys and snow capped mountains.
Crossing Zojila is always tricky. One of the roads was closed due to a truck breakdown. We had to return and take another route.
There was road widening work going on at one place, we were stuck there for about 30 minutes.
But otherwise it was a smooth journey crossing Zojila. And it was truly mesmerizing.
Following are a few clicks..

 

[Roshni]

Excited!

 

[jpoddar]

We moved on towards Zero Point. With fresh snow fall previous night, it looked majestic everywhere.

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Posts moved to dedicated thread, so as to give them proper exposure.

Looking forward to the next part of your travelogue .

 

[jpoddar]

Thanks Yogesh.

 

[jpoddar]

There are a few shops at Zero Point where you can have tea, maggi noodles etc. Quite refreshing in the sub-zero temperature.
The views were particularly interesting with one side of the road having barren mountains, the other side having fully snow-covered ones.