The New Areas
Pangong Valley 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.
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