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Pangong Lake Circuit
Leh
- Karu - Chang-la- Durbuk - Tangse- Luckung- Spangmik and return.
This
route takes the visitor past picturesque villages of Shey and Thikse, and
turns off the Indus valley by the side-valley of Chemrey and Sakti. The
Ladakh range is crossed by the Chang-la (18,000 feet / 5,475 m) which
despite its great elevation is one of the easier passes, remaining open for
much of the year even in winter, apart from periods of actual snowfall.
Tangse, just beyond the foot of the pass, has an ancient temple.
But
the main attraction of this circuit is the Pangong Lake, situated at 14,000
feet (4,267 m). A long narrow basin of inland drainage, hardly six to seven
kilometer at its widest point and over 130km long, it is bisected by the
international border between India and China.
Spangmik, the
farthest point to which foreigners are permitted, is only some seven km
along the southern shore from the head of the lake, but it affords
spectacular views of the mountains of the Changchenmo range to the north,
their reflections shimmering in the ever-changing blues and greens of the
lake's brackish waters. Above Spangmik are the glaciers and snowcapped peaks
of the Pangong range. Spangmik and a scattering of other tiny villages along
the lake's southern shore are the summer homes of a scanty population of
Chang-pa, the nomadic herds people of Tibet and south-east Ladakh. The
Pangong Chnag-pa cultivate sparse crops of barley and peas in summer. It is
in winter that they unfold their tents (rebo) and take their flocks of sheep
and pashmina goats out to the distant pastures.
