Ladakh is a land like no other. Bounded by two of
the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the
Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar
range. Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2750m)
at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram.
Leh - Karu - Chang-la- Durbuk - Tangse- Luckung- Spangmik and return.
This route takes the visitor past picturesque villages of Shey and Thikse, and
turns off the Indus valley by the side-valley of Chemrey and Sakti.
The Ladakh range is crossed by the Chang-la (18,000 feet / 5,475 m) which despite
its great elevation is one of the easier passes, remaining open for much of
the year even in winter, apart from periods of actual snowfall. Tangse, just
beyond the foot of the pass, has an ancient temple.
But the main attraction of this circuit is the Pangong Lake, situated at 14,000
feet (4,267 m). A long narrow basin of inland drainage, hardly six to seven
kilometer at its widest point and over 130km long, it is bisected by the international
border between India and China.
Spangmik, the farthest point to which foreigners are permitted, is only some
seven km along the southern shore from the head of the lake, but it affords
spectacular views of the mountains of the Changchenmo range to the north, their
reflections shimmering in the ever-changing blues and greens of the lake's brackish
waters.
Above Spangmik are the glaciers and snowcapped peaks of the Pangong range. Spangmik
and a scattering of other tiny villages along the lake's southern shore are
the summer homes of a scanty population of Chang-pa, the nomadic herds people
of Tibet and south-east Ladakh.
The Pangong Chnag-pa cultivate sparse crops of barley and peas in summer. It
is in winter that they unfold their tents (rebo) and take their flocks of sheep
and pashmina goats out to the distant pastures.
Pangong Lake Circuit, Ladakh Circuits Reservation
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