My Little Secret (on How to get started with Travel)

Because it is women’s day, I thought I’d let you in on my little secret! My little secret is about how to get started with travel. I get a lot of mails asking if I could take them on any trip along with me.  I get equal number of mails saying how they want to do what I do, travel like I do. The point of this post is not to brag, but to tell you how, read on.

Let’s take a trip down the memory lane, let’s go back to 2008. I had just come back from Ladakh and I was crazily obsessed with the idea of travel and adventure only with no means or resources to do so. I knew I wanted to travel and explore but I just didn’t know how. A turmoil, rather the size of a cyclone in my mind was keeping me restless, how I do I go to Himalayas, how do I camp in the wilderness, how do I be safe, when do I, how can I, what should I and so many more questions were killing me.  So how did I overcome these problems?

To tell you the truth, there’s no secret. Would it surprise you if I said, it was by trial and error? First I pestered my friends to come along. They couldn’t keep up or rather didn’t want to keep up with my voracious appetite for travel. Then I considered going for a trek with some adventure group but I didn’t know how safe it would be for a girl to go trek in the forest with strangers but I took the risk and it paid off well. Today I have so many wonderful friends who trek along with me. Then I decided to go however possible and it just so happened that I found company and when I didn’t, I went ahead anyway. 

Even after going to Ladakh and going for few treks in Western Ghats I still wasn’t sure I’d be able to go to Himalayas anytime soon. But when the Roopkund trek was announced, I registered. Believe me, it was such a big deal and there were butterflies in my stomach whenever I thought of the fact that I actually signed up for a trek in the mighty Himalayas and that too a high altitude one at that. But all that anticipation turned into admiration when I reached Himalayas, I had reached home after all. Before I took that step, it was a big deal to go to the Himalayas and once I took the first step, I wondered, what was the big deal at all?

Don’t tell me you weren’t scared to come to an unknown city and earn you living. Don’t tell me you weren’t scared by the thought that your family isn’t close by to take care of you. But you did survive alone in the big city, didn’t you?  When it comes to a crunch, we all find a way around the problem. Just go ahead and take that trip you’ve always dreamed of. Age is not an issue, money is not an issue, time is not an issue and above all, gender is not an issue. If we truly want to, we will find a way. If you don't believe me, see what Deepa Mallik did despite being paralyzed waist below..

There is a reason why we can’t understand what the other person means when he gives us a good piece of advice. His knowledge comes from his experience and until we experience it ourselves, we’ll never understand what he meant in first place. It is quite easy to assume that since we are traveling so much, we can guide you on the path to eternal wandering. But that is so not true! Frankly, I do not know the answer.  I cannot tell you how to travel. You have to find your answer. You will face problems and you will overcome them in your own way, it is not necessary that the same solution will work for both of us. It is not necessary that we will both face the same problem to begin with. But you already have crossed half the hurdle by making up your mind that you want to travel. Crossing the other half just requires you to take that first step. If you will never take that step, you will never know what could’ve been.

I promise, there will be no looking back after that!

P.S – It’s nice to say all this but it doesn’t mean I am suggesting you throw caution to wind and set out.  Travel, but be safe. :)

Here’s few places where you can start.

Bangalore Ascenders – I go for treks around Western Ghats with them, good bunch of people.

Indiahikes – I go for Himalayan treks with them, good locations and good crowd.

Youth Hostels Association of India – I go with them for some interesting events like cycling, trekking across desert. Comfortable arrangements. A little old school but definitely worth the experience.

Chennai Trekking Club – Used to go with them for a lot of adventurous treks in South earlier. Not sure of the present condition and crowd.

Bangalore Bikers Club – I have never been with them but they do have a lot of events and crowd for folks interested in cycling

A heavy dose of inspiration to explore the unknown – BCMTouring

A Wikipedia of travel and trek information and travelers - Indiamike

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The Varanasi Paradox!

By now you probably know of my extreme prejudice when it comes to new places. You have read about how I thought Rajasthan was boring and then Tamilnadu. Only to be proved royally wrong by both these places. Well all I can say is the saga continues. But the only reason we all travel is the uncanny ability of these places to throw surprises at us when we least expect. We are left with eyes wide open as we see what we never thought we would find.

About time I realize travel is not just about photographing every pretty thing I see. Sometimes one needs to let go and let the place take you by surprise in its stride. As you guessed it already, at first I was not interested in Varanasi. The place has been photographed to death. There is no scenery, just a heavy dose of religion and culture that I care less about. There wasn't much work for the camera. And because I wasn't looking through the viewfinder, I observed so much. As I heard the old man who was rowing the boat, I couldn't help but think, “What a paradox!” And later I again thought the same! Here’s why.

1. You’d think you can’t live freely but apparently you can’t die free either!

The river was gently flowing and the boat was going along with the flow. The old man had little to do other than keep the boat close to the ghats. At times he was merely reading the names of the ghats as we passed by. Occasionally some of his words would catch my attention. He said even death comes for a price here. I looked up interested, he continued. He went on to say that these ghats were owned by Dom Raja and he collects tax for each and every dead body that comes to the ghats to be cremated. Without wood from the Dom Raja, the cremation is not considered complete and one just doesn’t attain mukti or nirvana like that. Death taxes have to be paid and wood has to be bought. Here we stand at one of the oldest and holiest cities famous for releasing the soul from earthly existence and putting an end to reincarnation but it appears you can only buy freedom, even in death! The paradox heightens even more when we think of all those people who come to Varanasi just to die. They wait for their last breath at Mukti Bhavan and god save them if they have no money, for the journey would get them nowhere closer to escaping the eternal cycle of rebirth!

2. The holiest city is also the dirtiest city!

Since childhood we’ve all learnt it over and over again, cleanliness is next to godliness! But here at Varanasi, the age old learnings go for a toss. Or maybe it is this resilience to filth that makes Varanasi the oldest living city. The river is polluted to the maximum or maybe the holy Ganga can take a lot more. But the true paradox here is when people come here to wash away all their sins by taking a dip in the holy waters or is it a case of two negatives turning positive? The river takes anything and everything and dissolves in itself, anything from burnt bodies to dead cows to sewage to all the offerings in the name of prayer. It is not just the river but the entire city is mired in loads of garbage. I always imagined something holy to be insanely clean. I remember the festivals that we celebrated at home and how important it was for everything to be sparkling clean for the puja.  But here at Varanasi, it is a different world altogether!

3. You’ll encounter two kinds of people in a day – the sweet and the sour

I think you’ll agree with me, it is hard to empathize with hawkers and those ridiculously irritating autodrivers, anywhere! To many, a tourist is an easy prey to make some easy money. In the first instance, we got into a share auto along with a Buddhist monk. That was our first day in Varanasi and we really didn’t know our way around. We asked the autodriver if he could take us to the ghats and as expected he quoted an obnoxious amount. We were almost ready to pay as the monk took us by surprise. He was really old and his words were barely understandable but he spoke, he scolded the autodriver for trying to con us and he told the right way and the cheap way to reach the ghats. Few days later when an auto driver dropped us at our guesthouse, he was asking for more than we had agreed for initially, which is when the other man who was with us in the share auto, actually came back to tell the driver the agreed price. In all my travels, this has never happened to me before, definitely not twice at the same place. So turns out, in Varanasi not everyone is trying to con you!

4. Things get stolen in an instant yet the shopkeepers along Vishwanath gali are where your belonging are safe

The catch in visiting the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple is that no bags and belongings are allowed with you into the temple. The fact is that this temple sits in the heart of a tight maze of narrow cobblestoned passages lined with numerous shops. You never know when the shops end and where the temple starts. And the biggest surprise comes when everyone in Varanasi tells you to be safe and extremely watchful of your belonging as they have a tendency to find their way into the thieves’ hands (or is it the other way round?) but it is seemingly perfectly okay to leave your valuables with the shopkeepers here without any receipt. Things surely work in a different way around Varanasi, it is not just said but many people actually do leave their stuff with the shopkeepers. 

5. Birth and Death are just two sides of a coin, equally embraced and celebrated.

Nowhere have I seen death to be embraced as dearly as it has been here in Varanasi. In a day you’d pass by at least three processions of weddings and two processions carrying a dead body. Everywhere else there is such strong taboo surrounding death, cremation and burial grounds and ashes. Women aren’t even allowed to enter cremation grounds usually. But here death is an everyday affair and everything exists side by side, the holy river, the holy temples, the burning ghats and burning bodies. You can walk into Manikarnika Ghat where the bodies are burnt, have a cup of tea while you see bodies wrapped in white being brought to be burnt. Then you can probably head to Kachori wali gali and have a feast. Later you can go by your day. This is not possible elsewhere in India. 

Everything I saw puzzled me. It didn’t make much sense but that is how it is in Varanasi, the city has evolved for so long and so have its traditions, a class apart from anything I have seen or heard so far. There is something to Varanasi, I still do not know if the feeling is unsettling or is it of wonder! I call it the “Varanasi Paradox”.

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How in the hell do I manage to get so many leaves?

It’s no magic, really!

It is surprising how no one will raise an eyebrow when someone says they took two months off from work because of marriage. And if I say I took a month off from work to travel, the first reaction is something akin to utter disbelief. That concept apparently doesn’t exist here! For the past three years I have heard this question time and again, every single time I meet a new person and every single time I meet an old friend. It gets as irritating as it is funny. Travel is perceived as a time pass and not as the life changing experience that it actually is. This makes someone who travels look like an idiot wasting his life having fun instead of doing something important like watching TV or wandering in the mall. They keep telling me, “I don’t have as much time as you do! “. In my head I retort back saying “I don’t have as much tolerance as you do for the mundane!”

If these are the non-believers there are few others who assume things. Assumptions that I get paid to travel or that I get additional leaves or that I am in the travel industry or my personal favorite, that I don’t work at all, and I am on a perpetual vacation(How I wish it were true!).

Quite recently a friend told me, he took a long break of a year or so to sort out few things, during that time he did travel a lot and came back to start afresh with a new job. He cleared all the technical rounds and then came the dreaded HR round, where someone tries to figure you out based on few questions, and how do they really do that anyway? But the point is, he didn’t say he was traveling during the break, he told sob stories of family problems and he landed the plush job! He says they don’t understand. I agree, they don’t understand, after all how is it possible to assume all these things about me when it is really quite simple. 

So how in the hell do I really manage to get all those leaves then? Let’s do some simple math here.

Number if weekends in a year   – 52*2 (Saturdays and Sundays)

Number of public Holidays       – 12

Number of Leaves at work       – 25

Total                                        – 141 days!

There, is the mystery solved?

What this means is, in a given year, most of us are on leave for almost 40% of the time. We can travel for almost three months in a year. If you apply for a leave of 5 days, you are actually getting 9 days including the weekends. This means in a year you can go for 5 major trips of 10 days each. So you can go to Ladakh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Andamans and one trip home, all in one year! And if there’s a festival or a public holiday around the corner, include that as well and you will get even more! See, it comes down to planning in the end. How well we plan in advance decides how many vacations we get. Now you know what’s the first thing I do at the beginning of the New Year and in case you don’t, I check the list of holidays, weekends etc and already decide when to go. Where to go is decided on go!

Being in Bangalore certainly has its advantages. Most places around here are just a weekend away. The treks in Western Ghats are doable in two days. Friday night we start and Monday morning we are back in office. No leaves to apply here, it is a weekend right?

Saving up the leaves and encashing them when I resign is not an option for me. I use up all my leaves and more if required but certainly wouldn’t let them be unused. My hometown is also just a weekend away, so there isn’t a need to apply leaves to go home either. All the leaves are used only for trips, not because I felt lazy in the morning to go to office or didn’t feel like working. If those were my excuses for taking a leave, then I wouldn’t have been writing on this blog today. I wouldn’t have traveled as much as I did.

You take all these leaves as well, you go home, get married or do something else that ranks high on your priority list. My priority list pretty much consists only of travel and that’s what I use the leaves for. There isn’t really much difference between what you and I do. You take leaves, I take leaves, we all take leaves, just for different reasons so don’t judge me next time when I tell you I am just back from a vacation.

You know when they say if you really want to do something you’ll find a way and if you don’t want to, you’ll find an excuse. That is true! I find my way to travel somehow. What about you?

More rants and related posts:

Top Five Annoying things to say to a Photographer
Travel and the not so pink and rosy side of it!
Food for Thought - Travel and Conscience!

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The One..Hundredth..Post!!!!

One Hundredth Post!

One of those shots that I never imagined I'd take. Taken during the Final Face-Off at Canon - Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 Competetion

Wow, it would take me sometime before the feeling sinks in. It would take me some more time to digest the fact that I have been blogging for three years now. I have been meaning to do this post for at least three months now and yet something or the other, worth mentioning has been popping up leading to me delaying the post just so that I could include it.

Let me start by thanking you, incredible readers, for reading my experiences, liking my rants and not to mention the extremely positive response to my photography. I have to tell you, without the initial support here I wouldn't have been the photographer that I am today. Over the innumerable messages and comments I received telling me I have inspired someone to travel more, is often times the reason for the smile on my face. 

But the actual reason there could be even a blog here and a 100 posts is our incredible country with its incredible diversity! Like I said, several times before, I never knew India had such abundant natural scenery. My dream destination was always Switzerland or some place in Europe, until I traveled within our country that is. Since that life changing trip to Ladakh, I haven't been able to get enough of Himalayas or Western Ghats or more such phenomenal scenery of our country. I have shared only 25% of what I have seen and I have seen not more than 10% of what our country has to offer! There is so much more that has to be seen and it will be seen, in the years to come. 

There was a time when 1000 hits seemed to a cause for celebration, today the pageviews border close to a lakh and a half, a reason to celebrate indeed. There has been a gradual increase in the search hits as the blog reached a page rank of 4. And also almost 65% of the traffic is new visitors while the remaining 35% do feel the blog is worthy enough to be revisited again.

So what's been happening?

Well, there are a lot of things to smile about. Few months earlier I was invited by Club Mahindra for their blogger's meet, and that's some recognition as a travel blogger. Few days before that I got an invite from Getty to be a contributing photographer through the Getty-Flickr Contract. Not that I am terribly happy with their pricing, what I am really psyched about is the fact that Getty thinks my photos are good enough to be sold, there must be some truth to it! 

Later that year, my 100 Strangers Project (which has been rather dormant much to my dislike) was featured in Deccan Herald with a small photo of mine. I'll admit it, it was always a dream, to be featured in the newspaper! ;)  Meanwhile Indiahikes approached me if I could guestblog on their site on photography. While I do not consider myself a master, I do have a thing or two to share. You can go through one of my published posts here.

Article in Deccan Herald on the 100 Strangers Project

Then came the biggest surprise when a professor of mine invited me to speak about my travels at my alma mater, IIT Madras. Going back and seeing my professors show such interest in what I do was really amazing. I think a few more people now know how amazing the scenery is after that talk, well I'd say mission accomplished!

Then came the biggest surprise of all, I was declared the theme winner for Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 Awards. The category I won was Landscapes : Play of Light. With this came an opportunity to travel to Mumbai and force myself to shoot something drastically different. Being the hesitant person that I am when it comes to shooting portraits and people, I had to photograph "Spirit of Mumbai" in three days. While I narrowly missed the "Photographer of the Year 2011" title, what I learned was that I could probably tell a story next time I travel instead of plain landscapes. The thought doesn't seem so daunting now that I did the same for three days, a step closer to being the Travel Photographer that I imagine to be. The experience has been spectacular and it demands an entire post and I shall oblige.

The Award Winning Shot from Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.

So what next?

As I read through my old posts and the new ones, the sense of wonder seems to be lost now. I used to carefully choose words imagining myself to be a poet and write nonsense which ultimately managed to evoke the emotion but today it all seems plain text with no emotion that I write. Although the photos now seem to be technically correct, the charm is lost. 

I seem to be riding on the laurels of being at extraordinary places at the right time, but soon the world will run out of extraordinary places and I, eventually will have to find my artistic vision to stand out. I am at a point where I feel the creativity, if there was any, is stagnant, the quality of the creations is not changing, for better or for worse. In the coming months I sure do intend to find my vision, my style or the lack of it and go back to those ignorant captures.

And I still haven't made up mind if I want to be a photographer or a travel writer or something else in between. It sure seems like an exciting time but it is also a time where I need to focus, focus on one thing that I want to achieve. So while try to focus, I will try to wander less and be present more. But this wouldn't stop me from writing more often, since I now seem to have all the time in the world till I decide.

Amidst all this, a realization dawned by observing the masters, one doesn't master an art because he is talented. He masters it because he practiced, he stayed at it with perseverance. There are many days when I feel this isn't going anywhere, but the end of the year showed some promise. With much practice I might just reach where I intend to be. This 100th post is a major milestone for me because I never expected to get here when I started but miraculously, one post at a time, today I'm here.

Sometimes I digress for no reason, and if you have managed to come till this line, you are one of my prized readers. Thank you, once again! :)
And while you are here, Congratulate me, won't you?

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2011 was the Year of Crazy Times.. as always

So we all had a great year, did lots of travel, took lots of photos and met lots of people. I’ve had a similar year but it’s no fun reading about all the good stuff. So here’s my sarcastic take on what I did in 2011.

They said watch, because it is special. So turns out that was the last sunset of the decade and the next day’s sunrise would be the first sunrise of the next decade and all that jazz.  That was how New Year’s Eve was spent, freezing in the deserts of the Rajasthan. Then I thought I had enough of sand, let’s get an overdose of salt. So where did I go, to the salt flats of Rann of Kutch. Salt on my face, salt on my camera, salt beneath my feet, salt in the air – mission accomplished!  Somewhere along I pretended to be a detective too, talk of wishful thinking!

Pristine Dunes around Desert National Park

That was January, and since I am so good at keeping my promises I swore to myself that I will not make that next trip until I sell some photos or articles from the Rajasthan trip. I almost kept my promise till February end but who am I to break the tradition of breaking promises. I had some weird idea of fun, to float in ruins of a church, to camp in the car by the roadside on a highway, to touch three states and three National Parks over a period of few hours - all of this in just under 36hours. That was February.

The road through Nagarhole National Park

Come March, I was again under another illusion that the summer heat will keep me home. I was dreaming of blogging regularly, processing hundreds of GBs of photos and then god laughed at my plans. Since three hobbies weren’t enough and since they weren’t taking up all of my time, I had to add another to the list – cycling. Despite all that travel and photography I was under the illusion I still have money left and I went ahead and bought mountain bike as well. You read about that killer ride, remember? This was the month where the moon would be closer to earth and by some logic I figured I’d shorten the distance a little more by climbing some hill top, but only after riding in the dark, being chased by countless dogs, disturbing entire villages in the process and grilling kebabs at ungodly hours of 4AM.

Cycling down from Nandi Hills in the dark after the Super Moon Rise!

What kind of a biker are you if you never really crashed, so it was time, to fall from the bike. I forgot what these things called brakes do ever so conveniently on just the place you might really need them, on a steep curving downhill ride. You know what happened again, don’t you? ;)

Cycling along the KamRaj Sagar Dam in Ooty, before the fall

And because Ooty was graced with my presence and Munnar was feeling bad or so I assumed, I went cycling to Munnar as well. Munnar treated me well. It asked me to go to Thekkady on cycle for a joy ride, and then rolling terrain happened. Nobody had really tested my patience for a long time, so it was time to take the test, 110kms of ups and downs on a cycle. Turns out I barely passed. Also turns out you don’t go to lakes on foot. Apparently you have to cycle through fields. That was April. The only thing missing in all this grinding was a bloodbath, so we went and fed the leeches to their heart’s content on a trek that didn’t happen to be.

Misty Kukkal, in the surroundings of Kodaikanal

The crazy ride from Munnar to Thekkady started on a pleasant note, like this

By May, I somehow manipulated all that I saw to be signs from the Universe telling me to cycle in the Himalayas. As a preparation for that we celebrated a mass tire puncture ceremony on the Hesarghatta Lake bed, a whopping 6 out 7 cycles punctured. Spending the day fixing punctures is so much fun, no really! Oh meanwhile I also thought what would be more fun than a summer trip to the hottest place, so spent a week in Tamilnadu.

What was left of Hesarghatta Lake, in the far left corner was where we had the tire puncture ceremony

Sunlight streaming through Madurai Meenakshi Temple, during Summer

I was rather sane in June, did a small trip to Hampi where we spent more time eating and drinking than sightseeing. Oh wait, did I say sane? He he! 

Craziness was at its heights in July. Once in Spiti, first I thought let’s cycle, then I thought not! Then I thought let’s drink, then I thought let’s fall sick. Then I thought let’s walk then I thought screw everything and came back running home. Then I thought why I came back so thought let me go somewhere else. Then I thought let’s go somewhere where there are bad roads, mountains, rains and landslides and no tourists! So much for the want of adventure!

Magical Land of Spiti

Fantastic landscape around Gurudongmar Lake, Sikkim

August and September were quiet.

Missing the flight once wasn’t enough. I had to do something else too. Check in and Board a flight 10 minutes before departure, true story! No seriously, totally filmy ishtyle running in the airport and all that! But before almost missing flight, first I had to see the pink flowers and only pink flowers, only to not find flowers after a straight 16 hour journey. And because I didn’t get to see pink flowers I went to see the waterfalls in October.

Four waterfalls in two days, Unchalli Falls gushing to glory

Morning in the forest of Corbett

Walking on mountains was getting too boring it seems which is why we did a dash along the west coast. Walked 41 kms on the beach and on the rocks! Later that week, I got chased by wild buffalo and as if that wasn’t enough, the next day was the day of hiding from the lone wild elephant. That was November.

Light Painting along the beach, where we camped for the night, Gokarna to Honnavar Beach Trek

The ranges as seen from Ballarayana Durga Fort, on a trek to Bandajje Arbi Waterfalls

After such rocking time, the last trip had to bring in a greater surprise. As I wandered along Varanasi and Orchha, I was asked to shut up twice, no kidding! I know how much I can talk and I know how irritating it is when I hear someone yaps non-stop. I guess the last lesson I learnt from the year was to put these two together and stop yapping so much. ;) And December's gone just like that.

The famous ghats of Varanasi

That was 2011! After all these crazy times, what beats me is I actually found company to do all these things. The world is full of crazily awesome people and here’s to a crazy year and hoping for more fun times in 2012. 

Related Posts:


2010 in Pictures - The year that Rocked! :)
12 images and A Dozen Vignettes : From my Past Trips

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Tso Moriri To Pangong via Chushul, Through The Road Less Taken!

All roads lead to Pangong!

Well with Ladakh, once is not enough, twice is not enough, an entire lifetime is not enough. Ladakh is the stuff dreams are made of. Road trips can never be the same again, after a tryst with this gorgeous piece of land set in high heavens!

Most of us who have been fortunate enough to travel to Ladakh would've visited the dream like yet totally real Pangong Lake. We would've crossed the almost always snow clad mighty Chang La and would've relished that hot cup of tea and the warm welcome from the Indian Army atop. We would've gradually descended into the Changthang only to have our heart skip a beat at the first sight of an electric blue strip and would've said a silent prayer hoping Pagal Nallah wouldn't turn crazy by the end of the day.

Those were the days of yore it appears. Pangong today is a different story altogether. After dear Aamir Khan showed the world what a heavenly lake could mean, the repercussions were kind of disappointing to say the least. Hordes of tourists, a million tents/rooms and a gazillion vehicles all along the 7km stretch from Lukung to Spangmik is what awaits today at the tranquil location. The first time, save for a few visiting vehicles along the shore, there wasn't a single piece of evidence suggesting human presence in the area. No tents, no resorts, no roads, just the awesome lake and the mountains. Today I see some sort of sheds by the shore too. Why don't we build a bridge on top and then maybe an underwater resort too!

Whining apart, Pangong still remains a work of art, beautiful and wonderful by all means. I just need to find new ground and new perspective, which is why I took the road less traveled to rediscover the magic of the azure waters.

As of today there are two approaches to Pangong, one from Lukung, which is one end of the lake. The other one is through the other end, via Chushul leading to Khaktse, Merak, Man and finally to Lukung. This route skirts dangerously close to international border making the journey all the more exciting. This way we'd also be able to see the entire 40kms of Pangong that lies with India. 

Here are the details of the route in detail.

Route - Tso Moriri - Mahe - Nyoma - Loma - Tsaga - Rezang La - Chushul - Khaktse (Pangong Start)  - Merak - Man - Spangmik - Lukung (Pangong End)

How to reach - Retrace the route from Tso Moriri to Mahe bridge. At this checkpost after crossing the bridge, take right. Left goes to Karu and then Leh. Right goes towards Pangong. Proceed on this route till you cross Noma and reach Loma, where you find another checkpost and a bridge. If you cross the bridge, you'd go towards Hanle. Keep left, you'll reach Chushul.

How many days - The journey can be comfortably finished in a day. Be sure to have an early start at Tso Moriri so that you can enjoy the route without hurry. 

Things to note - Although the route if now officially opened for domestic tourists, it still doesn't have a lot of takers except for some crazy travelers. Chances are you might not see any vehicle the entire stretch. If you are lucky you'd cross an army vehicle or two. Be prepared for any emergency. Carry extra fuel and food as well. Chushul will be the only major settlement you'd come across over the entire day till you reach Pangong.

Inner Line Permit - ILP is available at the DC office in Leh. Either you can get it yourself or your travel agent can arrange it for you. Only your names will be required. Be sure to include all these names in the ILP to avoid any problems - Mahe, Nyoma, Tsaga, Rezang La, Chushul, Merak and Man. Since this route goes along the Indo-Sino border, Border Police can reject permission anytime. 

Who can go - As of today only domestic visitors can get the ILP for this route. If you are planning this route, make sure all are Indian Nationals and carry valid ID. Foreigners are not permitted on this route.

Condition of the route - Although this is the shortest way to reach Pangong from Tso - Moriri, it will take a long time due to the road conditions. There is well laid tarmac until Loma but after that the road condition slowly deteriorates and becomes almost invisible by the end of it. As the tarmac disappears, you can see tracks ahead and follow them. There are stacks of stones all along the route to let you know the direction. Follow them as well. An hour or two after you cross Chushul, you will be treated to the first glimpses of the mighty Pangong Lake, tracks might disappear around here but you be sure to take a left here at this junction.  You would see a road going to right but don't be tempted to follow that, that will lead you to China!

Now I'll let the photos speak!

The fact that this route is so less taken already makes it feel like some exotic land. The colors of the mountains and the salt marches only add to the scene! Towards Nyoma.

The mountains turn purple around here and the colors are unbelievable, have to be seen to be believed!

As the purple disappears, the sands appear. In the distance you can see High Altitude Desert! As you enter the army area, barricades along the road, you find stallions here and there and a dead carcass by the road side to remind you of the awesome remoteness you are traversing though.

"This is a notified firing range Do not enter into it as it can endanger your life" the board says! Some thrill it is, to be in place such as this!

The desert hasn't left us yet, but neither has faint remnants of greenery. Green grass along the foothills of mammoth sand mountains and a lone Kiang wanders along.

The rivers keeps us company all the way until Loma, where we finally part ways. But until then what a charm it will be. The lonely road, mountains all around and the meandering of one gorgeous River alongside.

After Loma, the Kiangs can be found every now and then along with other wild animals. Keep your eyes wide open and I promise you will spot something spectacular.

The road has long disappeared and these tracks are all that remains of a previous quest by some other traveler. Follow the tracks all along and they will lead you to your destination. By now greenery is gone, wildlife is gone, the road is gone and all that is there is this barren magnificent vastness. 

Somewhere before reaching Rezang La Memorial I see this pile of horns by the side and it absolutely freaks me out! The winds blow at a high speed swooshing past my ears and there is not a soul around, not even any signs of civilization. My heart beats  fast as I get out of the SUV and walk alone towards the pile expecting anything to jump at me. I take this photo and scurry back to the jeep as if something chased me. Heart beat returns to normal and we drive away!

In the vastness, there lies a speck of color in the desert. As you come closer you will see it is a memorial in honor of the Rezang La War Heroes. A sad story of valor and gallantry you will find out as you read the boards there. Do stop over and take a look. 

And we finally arrive at Chushul, you'd be surprised to find it to be a rather big village. Just around the village you will be able to see the Chushul Salt Marshes where the endangered Black Necked Cranes migrate to, every year. You will also be able to see Spangur Gap. 

And the first view of the destination. The blue strip of the amazing Lake now will keep you company for the next 40kms showing you all kind of shades of blues! Like I said, don't take the right, it will lead you to China!

The landscape is out of this world as you reach the shore, the mountains welcome you, gentle waves invite you the extravaganza and the clouds don't want to be left out, they will create some drama too! Sit on the white sand and enjoy the serenity!

There, in a single photo so many shades of blue! What happens over the next two three hours, I can't explain in words. The route is just a track going by the lake side as she decides to change her color according to her changing moods! Many a times you'd feel like you would just drop into the lake but the mud holds its ground and let's you pass. Long after this first view you will reach Khaktse village, don't panic if you don't see anybody for a long time. After Khakste, you will cross Merak where you will find a checkpost, then Man, Spangmik and 
you have arrived! 

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