v. 20 May 2022 - Kargil to Leh by road.....

First thing what I noticed about this area, (at this time of the year) was that the sun rises quite early (as compared to Mumbai). The room I shared with Ramesh, had a window which gave spectacular view of the valley on one side. Inspite of the delicate curtains on the windows, I could feel the sunrays gently pecking our eyes as early as 5 AM. As per the time stamp in my mobile camera the following foto is taken at 5:02 AM on 20th May 2022! Sunrise at 5 AM would be something that would be with us for the rest of our trip.

 

 
For an hotel that is situated at over 10000 feet above sea level with practically no sea / ocean body within several hundreds of kilometres, the wash room had a very unique wall tile pattern - seashore, starfish, shells, sea and sky - which I could not resist from fotographing!


After a good breakfast, we left Rangyule hotel in Kargil on our road trip towards Leh by around 830 AM. I continued to occupy the front seat with the driver of the vehicle and made the most of it snapping away at the sceneries.


 
 
 
BRO - Border Roads Organisation is in charge of building / maintaining roads and bridges in India's border areas. BRO is a road construction executive force that provides support to the  Indian Armed Forces. The motto of BRO is (something to the effect of) if it can be done, we can do it. In this leg of our journey we saw several BRO projects going on. Most of these were maintenance projects, a few massive new projects were also visible. 
 
 Some of the witty signboards that BRO had put up would bring smiles on our face whenever we think about it ever in future.



At around 10 AM we reached Namik La. At 12800 feet it is a place unlike anything else. It was windy when we reached this spot and we had difficulty in holding on to the doors of our four wheeler. Several snow clad mountain ranges were visible from this altitude. A combination of altitude and blowing wind made the place very cold and we rushed back into our vehicles after spending a couple of minutes outside taking selfies, fotos, etc.





An hour and an half later we reached the Lamayuru monastery - a sign board depicting the name Avalokiteshvara Temple was displayed. The climate was ideal for a hot cup of tea, which all of us happily consumed.
 


We took a lunch break at around 1 PM. Resuming our journey after lunch we reached our Leh hotel - Poplar Eco resort - by 330 PM. We checked into the hotel, relexed for some time & went out towards Leh market in the evening. We were to meet Dr Swamy either by end of day today or early tomorrow morning. The next day - i.e 21 May - morning, we had to report to hotel Palaceview where the trek organisers Trek The Himalayas have made the necessary arrangements for stay for all the trekkers, trek leaders etc.
 
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