All the aaloo parathas!
The route is scenic as usual. But Tsomoriri beats the rest hands down. Just before the main lake, as our car weaved up and down the hills, we saw this small pristine blue lake peeking between the hills. That one view is probably what I'll remember about Leh for years to come. It was unbelievable!
The lake before Tsomoriri
Looks like the Windows XP background!
From there, we moved on to the main Tsomoriri lake. It was spectacular. 24km length and 6km width. Different shades of blue, flanked by mountains on all sides. You really got to see it to believe what nature is capable of. The stay bit is a little tricky there. Most of the homestays we inquired in Tsokar village had tin sheds for bathrooms. Some of those tin sheds were not even in the homestay! Finally we managed a pretty decent place. There were beds, bathroom was nearby and rugs were available. It gets really really cold in Tsomoriri; so if you plan to camp, please come prepared with extra thermals.
Tsomoriri Lake
Our Homestay
We dumped our luggage and went to the lake side for sunset. Those were my favorite hours in the entire trip. :) Some very serene times followed by a few moments of madness. We got the tripod out and tried the perfect jumping shot for the longest time! Did you know how difficult it is to get seven people to jump together in synchronization! Inevitably, atleast one looks like an idiot in the pic and atleast one more does not jump while everyone else is in flight!The evening was spent in customary fashion. Food, followed by a hilarious evening of rum and laughter. I don't remember the jokes, but I do remember all the warmth in the bone freezing cold. :)
Stunning clouds at Tsomoriri
The innumerable jumps!
There is just one shop in Tsokar, and it pretty much sells everything. When I say everything, I really do mean it - food, whiskey, mayonnaise, chips, batteries, torch. I could go on for a really long time! That's where we had breakfast before leaving the next day. Tsomoriri really made me look back again and again. Till the blue lake was a small dot.
The 'everything' shop!
Last view of Tsomoriri
On our way back, we went to More Plains. Another flat and beautiful stretch of road. Though I thought the Alchi one was prettier.
More Plains
Back to back days on the road, packed in a Xylo was taking its toll. The last stop for the trip remained - the much hyped Pangong Tso lake. Each of these places deserve atleast a week or maybe a month. These touch and go visits make my resolve to take a sabbatical and travel much stronger! Maybe then I will have stories to tell. Right now, I just have facts and photographs. :)
