Pangong Tso (“tso” being the Tibetan word for lake) or the Pangong Lake is the world’s highest saltwater lake. Situated in the Himalayas up north in Ladakh, it is breathtakingly beautiful. When we visited Ladakh, we obviously reserved an entire day to visit Pangong Lake. The day before we were supposed to make the day trip to the lake, it had rained a little. Our worries subsided when we woke up to a sunny morning with clear skies. Surely this was a good omen! It would be a good day. Any car journey in Ladakh is a feast for the eyes and this one was no different. Halfway on our journey, the sky turned a little grey. Our driver stopped the car and got down to put chains on the wheels. We could see all the other drivers doing the same to their respective cars. This is done to prevent the car from skidding on the slippery, hilly roads. Our driver assured us it would be fine and we would reach in time. A few minutes further into the journey, the skies turned very grey. The locals also informed that there was a possibility for the roads to shut down because of the snow avalanches. Many tourists (and drivers) decided it was too risky to proceed further and took a U-turn to return to their hotels. We pondered upon it a bit and decided to continue the journey. We had already come this far and who knows if or when we would make it to Ladakh again? If it came down to the worst and the roads did actually shut down, we could always spend the night at some local accommodations near the Pangong Lake. A quick chant of “Ganpati Bappa Morya” and we resumed our journey. In hindsight, I think we could exercise this strong will to risk it a bit and visit Pangong Lake partly because our driver himself was confident that we could make the journey. As luck would have it, the skies cleared up by the time we reached the lake (though we reached an hour late because of the road situation). The vast, mesmerizing expanse of intense blue waters, also called the Pangong Tso was waiting to greet us under sunny skies. What could get better than this! The long and rather worrisome journey was worth it. It is difficult to put words to the feeling I got standing amid the varied, intense shades of green and blue, surrounded by the Himalayas.
