I had heard a lot about the twin high-altitude lakes of Ladakh situated almost 200 kilometres or so from each other. The first one called the Pangong Tso in Ladakhi is like a small sea. It is 134 kilometres long, 5 kilometres wide and is situated at an altitude of 4,250 meters above sea level. The lake has a total surface area of 700 square kilometres.

Two thirds of the Lake is under Chinese control and only one third is on the Indian side. It is a salt lake. The other lake called Tsomoriri is 19 kilometres long, 3 kilometres wide, and 4,595 metres above sea level. It is 40 meters deep and has a total surface area of 12,000 hectares. It is brackish but supports a large birdlife including the Bar Headed Geese and the rare Black Necked Crane. For me the trip to the lakes materialised in 1995. As usual I had gone to Ladakh with the then Commissioner/Secretary Tourism Anil Goswami to review working of various projects. He too planned to visit Pangong Lake and took the circuit before me. I followed him next day with Kakpori and Sonam Dorje. We took our Maruti Gypsy driven by Nissar and a Jeep from the local garages driven by Motup. All the provisions, sleeping bags, and a cook were taken along. Before starting I had contacted my friend late Commandant Hukam Singh of Indo-Tibetan Border Police whom I knew as member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, for assistance. We had planned to spend the night in Chushul in the ITBP camp. As the drive to Chushul was a long one, we started very early in the morning. The road to Pangong takes off on the left side short of Upshi on the main Leh-Manali Road. The drive is through a beautiful valley which has the monasteries of Chemrey and Takhtak. After traversing the valley for some time, the road climbs to Changla Pass. Those days road was still rough and we were driving slowly. While climbing up one gets panoramic views of the valley and the distant mountains towards Leh. The top of the Changla Pass is not so impressive. From the pass one can have a dramatic view of the distant mountains. On the other side of the pass the road was almost like piles of broken stones and the driving was very rough till we descended a thousand feet or so. After that the road went straight on the other side to Tangtse. On the way as well as at Tangtse there are big Army camps. This is a very strategic location. The Leh tourism had constructed a small bungalow here. However, they had not made it with a typical Ladakhi façade but a normal brick and concrete structure. I asked the local engineers to change it and create a Ladakhi ambiance. The needful was subsequently done. In Ladakh I witnessed a tragedy of local environment being spoiled by outsiders. The local hoteliers, guest house owners were very conscious of their cultural and traditional values and tried their best to preserve these. In fact, the use of polythene bags was banned by the Ladakhi shop keepers on their own without any government initiative. They did this a long time back. Kashmiris followed it only last year and that too under a compelling law! However, the great violators of environment in Ladakh were the government departments both the State and the Central.

We had a cup of tea in the bungalow and left for the Pangong Lake. Here, the route bifurcates in two. One branch goes straight into a valley which is famous for wild life. The other turns left through very narrow and winding valleys towards the Pangong Lake. Even though the valleys are narrow, there are many grazing patches en route and we found herds of Ladakhi mini-goats grazing there. There were in some places yaks also. The road was quite dusty and in some places there were land slides. We reached the Lake around noon and passed the army barrier. It was a dramatic site. Surrounded on two sides by totally barren brown mountains was a huge expanse of blue water. It looked like a painting. At the start of the Lake is the village of Lukung. In the very start of the Lake the Army authorities had constructed a viewing deck with some bath rooms. They also had some motor boats moored here for patrolling as well as joy rides for VIPs. We stopped here to have lunch and visit the wash rooms. From here onwards the road goes all along the banks of the Lake. Next village is Spangmik. Till recently, the tourists were allowed to go up to this village only. Now the Government of India has extended the limit up to Merak, the last village on the banks of the Lake. The drive along the Lake is fascinating. The Lake changes colours after every few kilometres. The landscape is same throughout. Barren brown mountains and the blue waters which keep on giving different shades at different points. We passed a couple of villages before we came to the turn in the road. From here the Lake turns left into the Chinese controlled area and the road climbs up on the right. The climb is straight and steep and after sometime, the Lake disappears from the view. This portion of the road is rougher as there was not much traffic on it. We did not see any human settlement all along till we reached the top and moved over.

From here we could see the village of Chushul which we reached just before sunset. Chushul is a small village in a flat valley surrounded on two sides by high mountains. There are many small streams flowing near the village. There is also an airstrip which saw lot of fighting during the Chinese invasion of 1962. We drove straight to the ITBP post which is located on a small hill. The officer in charge was waiting for us as he had received a wireless message from Commandant Hukam Singh. The post was in the form of bunkers and we were given a small cubicle for the night with two folding steel beds. We were served tea and pakoras which were quite welcome after a long and tiring journey. The officer indicated to us through binoculars the location of the Chinese pickets on the opposite mountains. In the middle of the plain below were some single storey buildings which we were told, are for conducting flag meetings etc. Those days there was no tension and things were quite normal. In fact, we were told that quite a bit of unofficial trade was going on between the local people on two sides. We could order anything especially electronics and these would be procured for us and even delivered in Leh. We had an early dinner and retired to our cubicle. Next day was going to be again a very long drive. The officer told us that for some distance the tomorrow’s drive would be along the Line of Actual Control and the Chinese would be watching us all along. He cautioned us not to stop for photography etc. and drive past this area quickly. The night was not very comfortable due to high altitude. In fact, Kakpori had some breathlessness due to frequent turning in his sleeping bag but it was not very serious.