Ladakh – The complete guide to Leh – Manali Road – VII
Pang to Leh via Morey Plains and Tanglang La
A short drive from Pang are Morey plains – a vast, perfectly flat plateau bordered by low hills. Like the plains of Sarchu, it is another unlikely break from climbing up and down the mountains, maneuvering tight curves and wading through clear streams. Cab drivers seem to look up to being there, and step on the gas and raise dust storms as soon as they enter the plateau. It is so flat that no one cares to stick to the road, but steer at will and make their own way.
In fact there isn’t a proper metaled road for most of the way across the plain. BRO works hard to maintain roads in the tough terrains all along the highway, but here on Morey plains where it seems easier to metal the surface, it is left unattended. The wheels of the vehicles randomly cruising on the plains trample the tiny grass that springs here and prevents any growth along a wide strip. Besides the environmental problem, it affects supply of grass to Khampa people – a nomadic shepherd community living in these parts.
The road begins the climb up to Tanglang la after more than an hour of trampling through Morey plains. Tanglang la (altitude – 5328 meters or 17,582 feet) is the second highest motorable pass in the world and the highest point on the road, after which the final descent to Indus Valley begins.
By the time we got past the plains, sun was already going behind the mountains and the last rays were falling on the peaks. Weather turned hostile as we climbed up and it started raining slowly. Rain turned into a mix of snow and water as we gained altitude. There were fresh deposits of snow along the road, indicating that it has been coming down for a while. The unmetaled road at the higher reaches was slushy and our cab driver was struggling to navigate on the muddy road. I saw an Enfield parked and orphaned on the way, probably left behind by someone who was finding it hard to ride in the tough weather and slushy road.
Tangang la seems to get hit by bad weather fairly often – I have had at least three people telling me about encountering bad weather when they crossed the pass during various months of the tourist season.
As we climbed up to the pass, I recognized faint signs of altitude sickness in me for the first time on the road. We had stopped somewhere close to the top and had to wait for a bunch of trucks to get across each other in the slushy and narrow road. I felt mild headache and nausea and wondered if it meant anything. It could have been the altitude, or it could be because of half burnt diesel fumes emitted by the trucks ahead of us. The windows were all closed to prevent rain and the chill from coming inside, which could have added to the problem. Whatever be the reason, the trouble did not last more than ten minutes and I did not have to worry much.
Weather was much better on the other side of the pass. The last rays of sun were falling on the peaks that glowed in the golden light. We had become a part of these mountains here, passing right in the middle of them and looking at neighbouing peaks from an equal altitude. Clouds, unable to climb any higher, had rested gently on the mountain slopes below us. It was a sight to behold.
The descent from the pass is steady and long, loosing altitude all the way till Leh. Light faded as we descended and deprived us of the views of the valley, but I got a chance to come back on the same route again a month later and see the unusual colours of the mountain slopes in these parts.
The road widens and the landscape becomes a lot more friendly as we descend to the first villages on the Indus Valley. Rumtse is the first peopled place, after which small settlements start appearing once in a while. The mountains here have deep chocolate brown to reddish shades. Sharp, jagged ridges and sawtooth like peaks unseen earlier keep the traveller from getting jaded from the long journey. It is more nearly 18 hours from Manali before arriving at the banks of Indus River in Upshi Village. It still an hour and a half to go before reaching Leh.
The journey ahead to Leh is easy and monotonous. The landscape is friendly, relatively green as the road goes along the Indus River. Villages appear regularly on the way now. Our cab driver zipped through the wide two-lane road all the way to Leh. For someone who is still romanticizing that Leh would be like a discovery of a place out-of-nowhere with just some scattered habitation here and there, it is a disappointment. Bulk of Ladakh lives in the Indus Valley, and can well be called crowded compared to rest of Ladakh. Leh itself has a suburban sprawl with dense spread of shops lining up in an ugly way like any small town on the plains.
Starting from Keylong, it is a long and tiring 15 hours on the road for us, but others on the cab have spent 20 hours sitting cramped in the Sumo. Yet, there is the excitement of having arrived at the place that fascinated me for many years.