Confluence Point of Zanskar and Indus River

Another beautiful day had begun. I woke up with a happy heart. The hotel had a view of the beautiful Indus River. We sat by the river for a while. It was so calming. Listening to soothing music, sipping green tea and this view. Yes! Couldn’t ask for a better start to my day.

Waking up to a view

Beautiful Indus River

Pebble pyramid on the bank of the beautiful Indus river.

We had our breakfast and left the hotel at around 9:30 am and directly stopped at the confluence point of Zanskar and Indus River. Here one can literally see two contrasting colors merging into each other. We were supposed to do our rafting here which got canceled due to some reason. None the less, we sat by the river for a while, enjoyed the mesmerizing view and left for Leh. We reached our hotel, Hotel Charu Palace around 2 pm. Relaxed for a bit, and left for lunch. We had lunch at a French Bakery called Bon Appetite Restaurant. From Momos to Chicken steak to Nutella crepe, everything was pretty delicious. The next planned destination was a Buddhist temple, Shanti Stupa. Two other fellow travelers and I didn’t want to go to Shanti Stupa instead we wanted to explore the markets of Leh. While others left, we decided to stay back and explore the city on our own.

Confluence point of Zanskar and Indus River.

The Group

Top view of the climb to Shanti Stupa

After sending post cards, wandering in the market for a while, all three of us had a second thought of going to Shanti Stupa. It was around 3 kms away from the market. So we decided to walk till Shanti stupa as we would have a chance to take a brief look at the market as well. Little did we know, as soon as we reached Shanti Stupa we realized there were around 500 steps to reach the top. We were exhausted. Conjuring all our strength we gradually reached the top after an excruciating 45 mins. The panoramic view from the top made it all worth it. It is said that Shanti Stupa symbolises peace and harmony and when we reached the top, we understood why. Somehow we got cellular reception and we tried calling our fellow travelers asking where everybody was. We came to know that they had already reached the market. We were completely drained but the only way to get down was by the very stairs we came up from. We tried convincing a couples of families to take us down with them in their cab. After 2-3 attempts we finally found a good family who were kind enough to offer us a lift to the market.

Shanti Stupa

Shanti Stupa

After an hour we finally reached the market. It was a crazy experience indeed. Since we were knackered from our adventurous day, we crashed as soon as we reached our hotel. Another eventful day had to come to an end.

On the road again

Coming up next is my adventure through Nubra valley. Stay tuned.

Love,

Pooja