Pangong Lake Circuit
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.
