Ladakh – Nubra Valley: Hundar, Turtuk, Deskit

29th September:

We started around 8.00am as 9.00 was the start of movement for Army Convoy towards Khardungla Pass. Our destination for the day was Nubra Valley and more specifically Hundar. Regzin was waiting with his Black Scorpio JK-10-2772 and it was the start of my second part of the trip. As we started relatively early and it was fag end of the season, roads were free from traffic and we found ice and even some small frozen waterfall enroute. We reached Khradungla top pretty quickly and didn’t face much of a problem as we were acclimatized by that time quite well. K-Top is a nice place to view Zanskar Range in your South and Karakoram Range in your North while you stand on top of the Ladakh Range. The road between South Pullu to North Pullu is pathetic but rest of the roads are quite good. We got down to Khalsar and then with few photo stops reached Deskit where we taken our lunch. We liked Snow Leopard GH at Hundar for its nice location and ambience and Regzin bargained it for 600/- for a nice double room with running hot waters. Brilliant deal and not only here, he bargained for me in every guest house in local language including when I was shopping in Leh market and saved at least Rs. 5000/- for me in his good negotiation skill during the whole trip. Late afternoon was kept for Camel Safari ride and it was really a fun for the kid. My kid surprisingly found her class mate there and was overjoyed (Both parents were surprised too as we never expected this and of course both took a week off before the school closes for Puja holidays without informing the real intention to anyone.) Moral is be prepared to find Bengalis in any part of the world during Puja Vacation

Looking at Leh from the road to Khardung La:

Zanskar Range going West to East at South side of Leh:

Frozen Water Fall on the way to Khardungla

At K-Top:

Local at Khalsar:

Shyok river would be with you in most part of Nubra Valley:

Towards Deskit:

Towards Hundar, crossing the Sand dunes:

Snow Leopard GH at Hundar, very nicely located:

Hundar:

She is happy with Sands:

30th September:

Another sunny day to start with and we were all ready by 8.00 in the morning to start for Turtuk, I was excited as this was a new addition to my earlier Ladakh experience. Roads are excellent all through and Shyok would be with you through out the journey. A stretch of road across right bank of the river now abandoned as it was land slide prone and new alignment was made from left bank. We crossed the bridge before Turtuk where our permits were checked and that was the border earlier with Pakistan before the war of 1971. During war of 1971, Turtuk came under Indian Control and the main difference you would find in Turtuk from rest of Ladakh, it’s in much lower height around 8000 ft (even lower than Kargil/Sonmarg) and it’s Muslim dominated and culturally completely different from Ladakh. A village walk is a must here and you would be amazed by the greenery and agriculture you would find here. Turtuk had some home stay and 2 luxury tents that usually costs 3500 but was offering double tents for 2000 to us but we had no plan to stay at Turtuk. So had our lunch and drive back to Deskit. Deskit had a Govt initiated Internet facility with V-Sat connection, where I was relieved to see clear weather till 6th October. It was 7th onwards IMD was expecting a Western Disturbance to hit the region. I made up my mind not to venture for Leh-Manali drive and rather decided to explore more on Ladakh as Koyul/Chumur were all in my permits. I had enough time as I had a tickets for flying out of Leh on 9th October. This is actually the last place for me to check weather over internet before Hanle as next day I decided to take Wari La/Changla route rather than coming back to Leh again. Evening was spent in Deskit Monastery, The monastery was renovated a lot since my last visit and car now can go much higher as I remember almost a 45 mins hike to top last time when I visited this in 2003. Deskit Monastery was under Hindu influence earlier and you can still find deity of Mahakaal and Yamraj there in a temple. The valley view from top specially in morning and afternoon is brilliant. I wanted to stay at Sand Dune GH as that’s the one I stayed last time but unfortunately all the GH in Deskit was lacking support staff during that time and food was not available. Only GH that was still functioning was Olthang and we checked in there. Once again Regzin got a nice bargain for a double room with running water at Rs. 600/-. We decided to give Sumur – Panamik stretch a miss as we visited that part last time and didn’t find it much interesting and may be later if civilians would be allowed to Sasoma – Siachen or Saser La – DBO, we would try that route again