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| Pangong Tso |
The journey from Leh to Pangong Tso takes approximately 5-6 hours long, we departed from the office of Indian Himalayan Expedition travel agent around 8 am as usual . Before leaving, Kak Nina and I bought a large supply of bananas and bottled water. Our shared taxi partners are slightly changed from the ones to Nubra Valley trip the previous day, we met two additional friends of David from Taiwan who just arrived and a friend from Jammu, Jaspreet, who had made a prior appointment from the trip advisor. Luckily, the driver of the trip this time was the same as yesterday's Nubra trip, Fayaz, with trusted skill without a doubt from yesterday trip experiences.
Perjalanan dari Leh menuju Pangong Tso sekitar 5-6 jam, kami berangkat seperti biasa sekitar jam 8 pagi dari depan kantor travel agent Indian Himalayan Expedition. Sebelum pergi, saya dan Kak Nina membeli perbekalan pisang dan air botol besar. Partner share taksi kami sedikit berbeda dari Nubra Valley trip hari sebelumnya, dua tambahan teman David dari Taiwan yang baru datang menyusul dan satu teman dari Jammu, Jaspreet, yang sudah janjian sebelumnya dari trip advisor. Beruntungnya, driver perjalanan kali ini masih sama dengan Nubra trip kemarin, Fayaz, yang skillnya sudah tidak diragukan lagi.
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| Pineapple Pulp Cake Taiwan dari teman share taksi kami |
The distance from Leh to Pangong Tso is about 224 km, passing through Keylong Road, Leh-Manali Highway and Pangong Lake Road. Along the way, we stopped at three check points or called stop points. The first stop point is the Post Police Kharu to check the permits of visitors. Fayaz collected the permits from us and gave it to the Kharu police station. The second stop point is Chang La, meaning "Northern Pass", with the code BRO 753TF 51RCC, which is the Second Highest Motorable Road point with the altitude listed on the 17688 ft monument, while according to Wikipedia it is only 17590 ft. In Chang La there is a research station established by DRDO. The closest city to Chang La is Tangtse. The third stop point, a resting stop, is close to Tangtse, still with the BRO code 753TF 51RCC, altitude 14106 ft, near a main bridge on Pangong Lake Rd. The restaurants found around this area are Chang La-Queen and New Punjabi Dhaba. There is no water in the toilet either in Chang La or in the second stop point. Kak Nina and I didn't get lunch, we just waited around the car taking photos around.
Jarak dari Leh ke Pangong Tso sekitar 224 km, melewati Keylong Road, Leh-Manali Highway, dan Pangong Lake Road. Sepanjang perjalanan, kami berhenti di tiga check point atau stop point. Stop point pertama adalah Police Post Kharu untuk check Permit para visitor. Fayaz mengumpulkan permit yang dari kami dan memberikannya ke pos polisi Kharu. Stop point kedua adalah Chang La, artinya "Northern Pass", dengan kode BRO 753TF 51RCC, yang merupakan point Second Highest Motorable Road dengan altitude tertera di Tugu 17688 ft, sedangkan sesuai wikipedia hanya 17590 ft. Di Chang La ini terdapat research station yang didirikan DRDO. Kota terdekat dari Chang La adalah Tangtse. Stop point ketiga, pemberhentian untuk istirahat, dekat dengan Tangtse, masih dengan kode BRO 753TF 51RCC, altitude 14106 ft, dekat jembatan besar di Pangong Lake Rd. Resto di sekitar area ini ada Chang La-Queen dan New Punjabi Dhaba. Toilet baik di Chang La maupun di stop point kedua tidak ada air. Saya dan Kak Nina tidak turun makan, hanya menunggu di sekitar mobil untuk foto-foto sebentar.
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| Stop Point 1: Police Post Kharu |
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| Stop Point 2: Chang La, BRO 753TF 51RCC, altitude 17688 ft. |
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| Stop Point 3: Tangtse, BRO 753TF 51RCC, altitude 14106 ft. |
The road condition from Leh to Pangong is not as extreme as the Khardung La Pass, but it is still the same winding road with smoother and less curves, and lower altitude than yesterday's Nubra trip. The scenery of the landscape along the way to Pangong Rd is varied and slightly different from yesterday, especially the closer to Pangong Lake, there are more green fields or grassland views with yaks, horses, goats and sheep with mountain and hills as a background, sometimes the view like these appeared in Indian movies for dancing around lol. A bit like New Zealand (though I've never been there).
Medan jalanan dari Leh ke Pangong tidak seekstrim jalan Khardung La Pass, tapi masih sama berkelok-kelok. Kelokan jalan lebih smooth dan lebih sedikit dengan altitude yang lebih rendah dari Nubra trip kemarin. View lanskap sepanjang perjalanan ke Pangong ini bervariasi dan berbeda dari hari kemarin, terutama semakin mendekati Pangong lebih banyak ditemukan view padang rumput hijau dengan yak, kuda, kambing dan domba dengan background perbukitan yang mirip di film-film India buat joged hahaha. Sedikit seperti New Zealand (meskipun belum pernah kesana).
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| Pangong Road landscape view |
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| Green field and grassland with horses, yaks, mountain goats, wild sheeps |
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| Grassland with meandering river. |
In terms of geology, the Himalayan mountain range is the result of orogeny from the collision tectonic between two continental plates, India - Eurasia. One of the manifestations of this collision tectonic can be seen along the road to Pangong Tso where many deformed outcrops are seen, such as highly folded and faulted metamorphic rocks even the contact between the Ladakh Batholith and the deformed metamorphic rocks. This is gold. From here the idea of making paper came up but until now the paper has not come to light, lol. Pangong Lake is passed by Karakoram Fault and belong to Pangong Transpressional Zone.
Dari segi geologi, area pegunungan Himalaya ini merupakan hasil orogenesa dari tektonik kolisi pertemuan antara dua lempeng benua, India - Eurasia. Manifestasi dari zona tektonik tersebut salahsatunya ada di sepanjang jalan menuju Pangong Tso ini dimana banyak ditemukan singkapan-singkapan terdeformasi, seperti singkapan-singkapan batuan metamorf yang terlipat dan tersesarkan hingga kontak antara ladakh batholith dan zona metamorf yang terdeformasi ini. This is gold. Dari sini ide bikin paper muncul tapi sampai sekarang papernya nggak jadi-jadi. Lol. Pangong Lake ini dilalui oleh Karakoram Fault dan termasuk dalam Pangong Transpressional Zone.
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| Geological Map of the Himalaya (Searle and Treloar, 2019) with modification of Pangong Tso Location. |
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| Singkapan dari balik dashboard |
Arriving in Pangong Tso, we were excited and amazed by the view of the lake and the Himalayan mountains that surround it. Due to the sunny weather, the lake water looks clear and bright blue to turquoise. The water of this lake is brackish, have been tried literally lol. Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake located at the foot of Himalayan mountains at 14270 ft altitude with 134 km in length stretched from India to the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Since Pangong Tso is an Indian-Tibetan border area, this location is a conflict area that is heavily guarded by the Indian troops. Consequently, the foreign tourists need a Permit to enter this area which can be obtained from local travel agents. We obtained the permit from Sonam rental taxi in Leh along with a permit to Nubra Valley two days earlier.
Pangong Tso was once the shooting location of 3 Idiots movie. The atmosphere and the lake view coupled with the background music of Indian movies OST in the car are very well matched, feels like in the movie lol. Arriving at Pangong Tso, our condition was not quite fit due to dizziness and nausea, because even though the road was not as extreme as Khardung La Pass, still, the winding road get our stomach aches. Besides, it might also be due to the effect of a two-day trip in a row without enough rest. After sitting around for a while, enjoying the landscape view on the lakeside and resting the body, a few moments later we took many photos of the lake. At the lakeside, there are some residents who provide photo spots with scooters and 3 Idiots posters, traditional dress and yak at a fixed rate. After being quite satisfied taking photos, playing throwing rocks into the lake and resting again, finally Fayaz told us about the tents that will be booked for tonight and all of us headed for the camp.
Sesampainya di Pangong Tso, kami excited dan takjub dengan view danau dan pegunungan Himalaya yang mengelilingi sekitarnya. Karena cuaca cerah, air danau terlihat jernih berwarna biru terang hingga tosca. Air danau ini payau-asin, sudah dicoba juga literally haha. Pangong Tso merupakan danau endorheik yang terletak di kaki Peg. Himalaya pada altitude 14270 ft dengan panjang 134 km terbentang dari India hingga Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Karena Pangong ini area perbatasan India - Tibet, lokasi ini merupakan daerah konflik yang dijaga ketat oleh tentara India. Sehingga untuk memasuki area ini, turis asing membutuhkan Permit yang bisa diperoleh dari travel agent setempat. Kami memperoleh permit dari Sonam rental taksi di Leh bersama dengan permit ke Nubra Valley dua hari sebelumnya.
Pangong Tso ini pernah menjadi lokasi shooting 3 Idiots. Suasana film India ini sangat mendukung ditambah dengan background music OST film-film India di mobil hahaha. Tiba di Pangong Tso, kondisi kami tidak terlalu fit karena pusing dan mual, karena meskipun jalannya tidak seekstrim Khardung La, tetap bikin perut mual dengan kelokannya. Tetapi bisa jadi mungkin juga karena efek dua hari perjalanan sebelumnya yang berturut-turut tanpa istirahat cukup. Setelah duduk-duduk sejenak menikmati view lanskap di pinggiran danau dan mengistirahatkan badan, beberapa lama kemudian barulah kami foto-foto. Di pinggir danau, ada beberapa penduduk yang menyediakan spot foto dengan scooter dan poster 3 Idiots, traditional dress serta yak-yak, dengan tarif yang sudah ditentukan. Setelah cukup puas foto-foto dan bermain lempar batu ke danau dan istirahat lagi, akhirnya Fayaz memberitahu kami tentang tenda yang akan di booking malam ini dan menuju camp.
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| Pangong Lake in sunny weather |
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| Clear and blue water |
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| Yak |
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| Hello from Pangong Tso! |
We stayed at the Holiday Shore Camp situated directly facing the lake. This camp is strategically located, very close to the lake, and our group booked three tents. The rate of one tent for two people per night around 2000-3000 INR including dinner and breakfast, after Fayaz helped us bargain with the camp owner as usual . The tent is spacious and large enough for two people, with two single beds, two small tables, blankets and a bathroom. Electricity only lights up a few hours at night in the tent owner's house, so after the electricity is on at dinner, it's time to charge your cellphone, camera or other necessary equipment. Due to our less fit condition, we took a short break in the tent for a while, until the afternoon we came out for catching sunset photos again. After having dinner at the tent owner's house, all of us tried catching photos of night sky, milky way, or starry night mode, in the middle of the so cold and windy air by the lake. It was extremely cold and breezy yet pretty nice sky view and experience (we should light a campfire but no resources). It dawned on me that night, I was like in a country in the middle of nowhere due to the night view of the lake lol. The photo session ended after we were quite fulfilled by taking as many pictures as possible, and we finally gave up because of the very-cold-dry air. Anyway, the dinner menu is satisfying in terms of the taste, quantity and variety, and we had a chance to meet and listen to a story some time from one of the solo traveler there. At night, I had a bit of difficulty for sleeping even though my body was very tired because it was so cold despite being covered in thick blankets, the weather got colder by the night. It was tiresome yet absolutely worthy and valuable experience, so it's highly recommended.
Kami menginap di Holiday Shore Camp yang terletak persis berhadapan dengan danau. Camp penginapan ini lokasinya strategis, sangat dekat dengan danau, dan rombongan kami booking 3 tenda. Satu tenda untuk dua orang per malam sekitar 2000-3000 INR termasuk makan malam dan sarapan, setelah Fayaz seperti biasa membantu kami tawar menawar dengan pemilik camp. Tenda termasuk luas dan besar untuk dua orang, dengan dua single bed, dua meja kecil, selimut dan satu kamar mandi. Listrik hanya menyala beberapa jam di malam hari dan di rumah pemilik tenda, jadi setelah listrik menyala saat makan malam, waktunya charging handphone, kamera atau alat lain yang diperlukan. Karena kondisi yang kurang fit, kami istirahat sejenak di tenda, hingga sore hari keluar foto-foto lagi catching sunset. Malam harinya setelah makan malam di rumah pemilik tenda, kami serombongan mencoba foto-foto catching night sky, starry night mode, ditengah udara yang sangaaat dingiiiin dan berangin di pinggir danau. It was very cold and breezy yet pretty nice experience. Baru sadar kalau malam itu, saya seperti berada di negri antah berantah hahaha. Sesi foto-foto berakhir setelah kami cukup puas ambil gambar sebanyak-banyaknya, tapi karena kedinginan juga akhirnya kami menyerah. Anyway, menu makan malamnya memuaskan dari segi rasa, kuantitas dan variasi, dan kami sempat bertemu dan mendengarkan cerita beberapa lama dari salah satu solo traveler disitu. Malamnya saya agak kesulitan tidur saking dinginnya meskipun sudah berselimut tebal, semakin malam cuaca makin dingin, padahal kondisi tubuh sudah sangat lelah. It was tiresome yet absolutely worthy and valuable experience, so it's highly recommended.
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| Holiday Shore Camp |
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| Feels like on other planet |
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| Starry Night at Pangong Tso |
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