Nature’s wonder, Traveler’s dream- Ladakh! Untouched landscape and snow mountains have their own rustic and magnetic charm. Far from the crowd, beautiful, serene, peaceful, majestic Ladakh should be on top of anyone’s bucket list!

Leh was on top of my trip list after finishing college, but I had to wait really long to experience its beauty, its charm till April 2016. Till then we were scared about traveling with kids on high altitude.

When there is a will there is a way. So finally I was able to convince my husband to travel and explore Ladakh when my kids were reasonably grown up i.e.younger one was 6 years old. Ours was an amazing experience and that’s why I’m writing this blog, especially for those who want to go with their kids but are concerned about their safety and waiting for the right time.

I boarded the Go-Air flight from Delhi to Leh on 28th April in the morning, with lots of inhibitions/questions in my mind. Whether I’m doing right to travel this place with kids? Will it be safe or not? Constantly praying that everything goes well! But when I boarded the plane, I had seen so many kids younger than mine (i.e.2 years and above), I was relieved that there are many parents who are also willing to explore beautiful Ladakh, I’m not the only one. I was thinking like I’m traveling in space and don’t know how my kids will survive out there. But that is the fun part of traveling when you don’t know about the certain place and ready to explore, every experience is new and it teaches you a lot.

 My flight was at 8:30 a.m and took 1 hour 30 min to reach Leh Army base airport/KBR airport. On the way, we had seen clusters of snow capped Himalayan range so closely, frozen rivers between those mountains and cloud formation, remembering those scenes still gives me an adrenaline rush!

Before landing, we were instructed about how to deal with high altitude sickness in the flight and some other instructions were:-

• Wear proper layers of woolen whether you feel cold or not.
• Stay in your hotel for initial 36 to 48 hours.
• If you feel less oxygen or breathing problem, you can consult a doctor at private/government hospitals or any army camp or you can directly buy oxygen cylinders from medical shops and inhale it.
• Some people may feel a minor/severe headache.
• Take proper rest until your body gets acclimatized.

After Landing “Julley” is the first word you will hear when you enter in Leh, it means “Hello”! Smiling locals greet everyone by saying Julley. It’s like they’re  welcoming you to see their life, culture and nature’s wonder! By uttering this magical word julley you will suddenly become part of them. From the airport, we took a private vehicle to reach the hotel. We took rest for initial 36 hours. After taking proper rest and precautions, we went to the nearby market and bought some yak wool bottoms for kids as it was chilling in the night.

Pangong calling – Next day after breakfast we started our journey to Pangong Lake. It is 150 km road distance from Leh town. This road passes through Changla Pass ( 17,586 feet ) which is the third highest motorable road in the world. The road was passing through Rocky mountains which had snow at their peak shining in the sunlight. After an hour and a half, we reached Chang-la Pass, which is covered with snow and both sides of the road, colorful prayer flags were tied. As we asked our driver about its significance. He said white symbolizes air, red is fire, green is water, yellow is earth, and blue is the wind. They also represent directions – North, South, East, West and Center. Some flags had written some mantra on it in their language, so we asked again about their meaning. The driver told ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ mantra is written in their native language, and it should be recited during meditation and has deep meaning and these flags emit positive spiritual vibration in the wind and offer silent prayers. We played with snow and clicked some pix at Changla-Pass. After spending some time there, we restarted our journey towards Pangong Lake.

After crossing Changla Pass you will start descending and pass through valleys and hills. After 41 KM from Changla pass, you will reach Tangtse village. This is a beautiful village with a monastery ( Tangtse Gompa ) on a hilltop and cultivation land all around. You can take lunch here, there are several restaurants available by the side of the road and inside the village. So we took momos and Maggi here and then started again. After 45 min. We reached lake but got the first glimpse of lake little earlier. It is beautiful crystal clear saline water lake with no fishes inside it and is frozen during winters. You can spot at least 4-5 shades of blue in this lake. This color changing lake is 130 km long and 5 km wide but 60% of this lake is in China. During the day according to sun positions, this lake changes its color and gives memorable and picturesque sights. 3-Idiots and Jab Tak Hain Jaan shooting happened here. Horse ride and Yak ride also happens here, kids will surely enjoy but it’s very windy so proper clothing is a must. You can stay a night here at camps and enjoy nature’s beauty at its peak. We stayed for an hour then had food at a nearby restaurant, all veg food was available as Jammu highway was not opened yet. So no egg and meat were available. Then we returned back to the hotel on the same day. It was a little tiring journey but the experience was priceless and scenic beauty and lake will make you speechless. We were very happy to see jewel or marvel of mother nature and were discussing that after endless rocky mountain range there is this pristine blue water lake just like another wonder of nature…!!

It took 4-5 hours drive from Leh town to Pangong lake and the same while returning. We reached the hotel at night, had dinner and slept to see another wonder of charismatic nature!

The confluence of Zanskar and Indus Rivers(Sangam) – Next day we started our trip by visiting Sangam of Zanskar and Indus River and the view was heavenly beautiful. We did 8 km (easy route) rafting as kids were also there with us, but we enjoyed each bit of it. The landscape was amazing, worth to its name as it is called “Grand Canyon Of Asia”. On the both sides of the river there were grand, huge rocks of different colors and shapes. I felt like we are in some other country, all the rocks were telling some stories, kids started seeing objects in those huge rocks of different colors, and I understood why this place is called adventurers paradise!

In rafting, grade 1 to grade 5 rapids are there, you can explore whole 5-day rafting and camping adventure and explore Zanskar Canyon beauty at its best. For more adventure you can visit in the winters when the whole river is frozen and do “Chadar Trek”, definitely it will be once in a lifetime experience!

Rafting charges will be according to your choice of grade, ours was 700 Rs/- per head for grade 1. After rafting we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then again enjoyed the whole view for a while and clicked some pictures as a lot of people were posing in the backdrop of beautiful Zanskar and then we left for Magnetic Hills. On the, way there was Guru Pather Saheb.

Magnetic Hills

The “Magnetic Hill” is located on the Leh-Kargil-Srinagar national highway, about 50 km from Leh, at a height of 11,000 feet above sea level. The hill has some magnetic properties, it pulls cars. So it is called magnetic or mystery hills and is one of the popular tourist attraction in Leh.We also felt some magnetic force while sitting in the car.

Thiksey Monastery and Rancho School–

After experiencing magnetic powers of mystery hill, we visited Thiksey Monastery located on the Leh-Manali highway. This monastery is at a distance of 20 KM from Leh town. On the way to this monastery, you can see Sindhu Darshan, Shey Palace, and Rancho School.

At Thiksey Monastery an entry ticket of Rs 30 is to be paid. Inside it, there is MMain Prayer Hall, Mahakala Temple, Palden Lhamo temple, Maitreya Temple, Tara Temple, Gold and silver stupa temple, Museum. But the main attraction is a Maitreya Buddha Statue, which is 40 ft high and is made of clay and terracotta brick painted with gold. The statue is surrounded by beautiful murals and paintings, which are telling stories of Buddha’s incarnations. The monastery is spread in 3 stories. You can get the panoramic view of valley and roads from the top floor.

Rancho School – While returning from Thiksey we visited Druk White Lotus School known as  Rancho School. Aamir Khan’s character is known as Rancho in Hindi movie 3 Idiot and some scenes were shot here. Beautiful Mountains are surrounding the school. You can see happy smiling faces of local kids playing and roaming around. School’s canteen is very colorful and full of Aamir Khan and shooting crew pix.

2nd day was over and I was thrilled continuously soaking myself in the beauty of nature.We returned to the hotel, took some rest, had dinner and slept.

Nubra Valley & Khardung-La Pass – Next day after breakfast we started our journey towards Nubra Valley which is 150 km north of  Leh town and passes through the “Khardung-La pass”.   At an elevation of 18,379 ft, Khardung-La Pass is the world’s highest motorable road and serves as a gateway to Shyok and Nubra valleys. The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachen River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges. We kept 2 oxygen cylinders for emergency as it was the highest point. We reached Khardung-La pass in 1 hour as it was only approx 40 km from Leh town. Pass was covered with snow, we parked our car at road and climbed  little bit to reach a point where prayer flags were tied, played for a while with snow but were feeling the effects of lesser oxygen, so after clicking some pix we ran towards our car but the 360 degrees view from pass was looking mesmerizing i.e. snow cover all around, again I felt shortage of words to describe the charismatic nature!

From Khardungla-Pass to Nubra valley distance was approx 120 Km and it took 3-4 hours. On the way we had seen frozen Shyok river, we walked over it so that we can experience the little bit of Chadar Trek and it was thrilling, after that we passed through villages with some farming and waterfall coming between Rocky Mountain. The whole drive was very panoramic. At last, we reached Hunder our Camping Site.

We refreshed ourselves, had lunch and rested for a while and at 4 pm we went to sand dunes and camel ride. It was very windy and after endless mountain range and valley, we were seeing the cold desert of India. Hunder Sand dunes are highest altitude desert and they had special double hump camel ride which is only available in 3 parts of world i.e Hunder, Leh, Tibet, Mongolia. We enjoyed camel ride and sights of nature as sun rays were playing with mountains and their shadow formation on mountains and on the sand were giving us memorable sights. We came back to our camp, done a bonfire and dancing with other guests had dinner and the best part was after that – “stargazing” activity at night and early morning and it was amazing as the sky was clear and stars seems to shine more.

…..one more breathtaking view of nature. Next day after breakfast we left for Leh town, many tourists were going to Turtuk and Drass villages, hot springs e.t.c. but we enjoyed ATV bike ride, then went to Diskit Monastery.

Diskit Monastery –

We visited Diskit Monastery and near it, there was a 32-metre statue of Maitreya Buddha. It was facing the Shyok River towards Pakistan. This place was very serene and peaceful and we can see whole valley and villages from here.

After returning, we went to nearby market. Shawls, Yak wool clothes, beads-necklaces, dry fruits, apricot oil, lots of souvenir shops were there. We bought Prayer Wheel as a souvenir as it is auspicious to keep it in the home and rotate it daily.

Next day we packed our stuff and all the sweet memories of our trip in our heart and said goodbye to Land of passes …..Incredible Ladakh.