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
herd's people of Tibet and south-east Ladakh. The Pangong
Chnag-pa cultivates 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.
