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Leh Ladakh Road Trip

Leh view from Delhi-Leh local flight on the arrival day

Leh is a destination I never thought before for once, one day I surfed instagram and fall in love for the first sight with the landscape. So I get the first reference from Instagram and start browsing anything about Leh, Ladakh, India. This destination is actually already familiar for foreign traveler, but not really well known in my local country, as far as I know. Leh is a city located in Ladakh, a region in Jammu & Kashmir state, precisely in the northeastern of India. Ladakh extends from the range of Kunlun mountain to the Great Himalayas populated by Indo-Arya community and the descendants of the Tibetans.


As one of surfing results, I found a blog as my main reference which very helpful for me in making travel itinerary. Luckily, the blog is Indonesian travel blogger, http://mssoewito.blogspot.com, which provides complete information from the destinations, how long the trip, transportation, accomodation, to cost estimation. The first thing I do is looking for a partner, and thank God, my friend, Kak Nina, would like to join in this Leh trip. Afterwards, me and Kak Nina begin to plan the trip starting from duration and time of the trip to detail itinerary including overall cost estimation.

The travel duration and time was finally agreed after looking for the suitable date and time schedule of leave that we can take together, 10 days on July 29 – August 7 2017. We start planning around April so we have time for about 3 months for preparation. Our time variables beside the schedule of leave, also matching the departure and arrival at the same flight time, considering we depart separately from different area and plan to meet in Delhi directly. I was from Bandung, Kak Nina from Batam, and well actually this is kinda complicated matter. Hahaha. Besides, the other crucial problem is surely the price of air tickets, 'cause of course we searching for the most economic price. Lol. Unfortunately, for the local flight, I kinda miscalculated the time and due to the matching schedule take time, we late to get the economic price for the local flights 'cause we bought it about only a month before.

After researching for a while, not only for a few days but even more about up to a month until getting the exact date and time of the trip and the duration, to finally purchase the round-trip ticket. After finished the schedule matter, we also change planning of the destination and transportation mode several times. Trip advisor forum was also really helping in this itinerary planning and from there I also get the opportunity to meet other travelers for sharing cab in Leh and sharing each other information. 

Our main destinations are Delhi - Leh - Agra with several alternative ways of transportation considering the limited time we have and the acclimatization, hence we initially have some lane options of the departure and arrival. Acclimatization here is an adjustment of our physical condition to a certain height. We have both air and road option where both have advantages and disadvantages. Air lane has the advantage of time and energy efficiency, but it has higher AMS risk due to height gap in a short time so the body does not have time to adapt well. Meanwhile, travel by the road may be more time consuming and draining the physical body, but has a lower risk of AMS because it can acclimatize slowly during the trip so the body is not upset or shocked. AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) usually starts to occur at altitudes above 10.000 feet. 

In this blog, I would like to share starting from the itinerary and preparation, the travel journal itself, and the slight preview from the geological perspective as an extra. Here is the comparison of the initial travel itinerary we planned before the trip and the real schedule during on field during the trip: 

  • Departures: BDO - DEL / SIN - DEL. Overnight at IGI Airport.
  • Day 1 - Delhi to Leh Flight. Check-in Guest House. Acclimatization day one.
  • Day 2 - Leh Sightseeing: Leh Main Bazaar, Leh Palace. Acclimatization day two. Make Permit.
  • Day 3 - Leh to Nubra Valley: Leh - Khardung La - Deskit - Hunder - Sumoor via Stamstanling Monastery.
  • Day 4 - Nubra Valley to Leh: via Diskit Monastery. Leh Tour: Shanti Stupa.
  • Day 5 - Leh to Pangong Tso: Leh - Changla - Spangmik - Pangong Lake.
  • Day 6 - Pangong Tso to Leh: via Thiksey Monastery.
  • Day 7 - Leh Sightseeing: Zanskar Gompa, Ladakh Rocks Mineral and Museum. Back to Delhi by minibus: Leh - Keylong - Manali.
  • Day 8 - Back to Delhi bus: Keylong - Manali - Delhi.
  • Day 9 - Delhi - Agra - Delhi by train.
  • Day 10 - Agra Tour: Tajmahal and Agra Fort.
  • Back to Delhi by bus. Departures: DEL - SIN/DEL - BDO.


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Location: Leh

Comments

  1. travelkidaSeptember 11, 2019 at 2:47 AM

    I appreciate your work because i enjoyed reading alot. keep up the good work. Will look forward for more such informative blogs ladakh trip

    ReplyDelete
  2. out thereNovember 16, 2019 at 10:45 AM

    thank you very much for your reference of this blog. I'll give my best to keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2020 at 9:35 AM

    For every youth Indian Ladakh trip on bike is dream of life.

    ReplyDelete
  4. alexMarch 13, 2020 at 10:29 PM

    Great place.
    forums.perforce.com

    ReplyDelete

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