Day 5: Rafting in Indus and Sighting Dalai Lama

We started our day quite early today as we had a plan to cover Pangyong Lake, located around 160 KM from Leh in the evening. If you tell anybody who have been to Ladakh that we cover these two things in a day he would say we were crazy. But if there is a will there is definitely a way. In search of that way we planned to do rafting early in the morning at 6:00 am. Little that we know that water of Indus in the morning would be absolutely freezing cold. But all is well if end is well and I truly believe the experiace of rafting in those amazing landscapes I would cherish all throughout my lifetime. Ladakh is the best-known destination for adventure activities amidst the landscapes of spectacular, rugged beauty. I am glad we took the decision to do rafting in the morning and that too in freezing cold water.

(Posing for a snap while rafting).

(Exhausted after paddelling)

Before boarding the raft instructer gave us some basic instruction to follow while rafting. We wore our safely jackets and helmet and boarded the raft in excitement.We started out rafting from a place called Phey located around 25 Km from Leh.Our destination was a place called Nemu where Zanskar River meets Indus river located around 27 Km far from Phey.We were about to cover these amazing 27 Km rafting in about 3 hours. As soon as we started we were greeted by some tough turns and repid flow in the river as we move forward in brisk pace. Instructer took care of the flow and path of the raft escaping rocks and narrow path in between. In some of the tough turns he used to instruct us to move fast to negate the flow of water in wrong direction. It was only after sometimewhen we were settled we realized the amazing beauty all around the river path. It was the place where you can enjoy the natural beauty of the spectacular landscapes with deep gorges, towering snow-capped peaks, hilltop monasteries, hillside villages, and glimpses of the unique wildlife all around. The river route seems similar to the one shown in movie “Into the wild” through which Christopher McCandless crossed over to Maxico in Kayak.At some stretch it seems as if we were moving towards end of civilization with no sign of civilization around in vicinoty. Instucter told us if some problem occurs with the raft in between then we would have to walk for around 20-25 KM climbing the hill to find the nearest village or road. Though nothing untoward happened at last (I wished something would have happened that would have made this post more exciting), this all make the whole rafting experience even more exciting. We reached our destination Nemo after rafting for around 3 hours through this amazing landscape.
(We stopped in between for Bio-break.Here we are posing in front of Stupa which I made of rocks).

We packed the raft and windup the things and left for Leh in the vehicle. The road that took us from Nemo to Leh passes through some of the most beautiful terrains of Zanskar Valley.We saw two antelops just beside the road while returning back. Vehicle dropped us in the main maket of Leh that was quite crowded then usual and heavy deployment of security force everywhere. Upon asking we came to know that His Holiness ‘Dalai Lama’ is going to visit a nearby mosque in the main market. After sometime amidst heavy protection I saw him getting off from his vehicle as he wave towards public in front of mosque. He is perhaps the most influential spiritual leader of this generation and you could see his photo in every household and vehicle in Ladakh.I truly felt extreamly lucky and blessed to have seen him in Ladakh that day.

(People waiting in road to see Dalai Lama!!)

(My Friend tried a lot taking Dalai Lama's snap,but in vain).

We returned to our hotel in the afternoon from main market as we plan for our next journey towards Pangyong Lake. I will write the experiace of covering two of the most beautiful lakes, Pangyong and Tso Moriri, in a span of two days in my next post.

Till that time…Julley!!