Day 7 of Ladakh: A Dream || 14th July 2023


    For me nothing could have been more magical than visiting that elusive lake, the poster boy of every lake calendar. Emotions ran high in the morning of that day. That it was decided near Ramban, it may well be the only thing we could do if the trip was cut short, speaks volume of the importance of going to Pangong Lake in our life. Was that too much? Naah...

That morning we got up early at night :) and after a light breakfast, let the tyres roll. If valley in evening was beautiful, it was fresh in the morning. Narry a person except the one in the rear mirror. Road till Hunder was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed riding under the morning sun. But the road beyond that was total carnage to body and bikes alike. Actually it wasn't even a road, it was not even a trail. It may well have been a river bed but million times more pebbles on it. My bike is not exactly made for such adventurous roads and I was constantly worried about my tyres going flat. Sure my tyres were tubeless and we were carrying a puncture kit as well a foot pump among ourselves. But had I ever done that before? NO. However, I would admit that it was fun riding on that track, raising myself on footpegs and pretending to be pro after I got the hang of it. In the months after my trip was over, sometimes I would raise myself on little bumps on the smooth city roads just to let the Pangogian memory wash over me. 



Riding along the shyok river, we reached the lake around 5 PM and the sun took its sweet time going down the distant mountains which allowed us plenty of time to appreciate its blue waters. As the evening progressed, the stars took over from the lake beneath it to completely transform the sky upon which they were so precariously placed.



      It was late in the night when we went back to our tent. We were tired from that tiring journey. Much of it was  to be blamed on the pathetic condition of the roads, however in Joey's words: Pangong Lake was truly abysmal.



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