Awesome Leh Manali Highway In 28 Pictures!

A photo story of Leh Manali Highway! 

Basgo Ruins Of A Bygone Era!

Among the many stunning stops on the Kargil Leh highway Basgo ruins was like a crown of jewels. Just a small detour off the highway took us to these ancient ruins where once stood a massive clay castle and Maitreya temple. This is one of the most treasured monuments of Ladakh. The views from the highway were so captivating that we were attracted towards it. The most unbelievable fact is that this monument was built using clay, stones and wood. These colossal ruins are such treasures not just of Ladakh but the whole World. It is a must visit while on a trip to Ladakh.

Basgo, once capital of Lower Ladakh, was a political and cultural center and now overlooks the ruins of an ancient town. The Basgo Monastery was built by Namgyal rulers in 1680 on top of a clay hill. Later on a castle, also known as Basgo Rabtan Lhartsekhar, was built by the father-son rulers Dharamraja Jamyang Namgyal and Singay Namgyal.

The entire castle is now in ruins and only two temples stand today. Of what remains the massive Maitreya Buddha statue, natural color paintings on the walls, centuries old thankas paint a beautiful tale even today. The folks inside the temple were making miniatures religious offering using clay and butter and some of the offerings were getting a fresh coat of bright red paint.

This historic monument offers breathtaking views of the surrounding hills with different shades of colors. It was really disheartening to see that there are not many visitors to this spectacular sight providing an insight into a bygone era. Soaking in the views for one last time, we continued our journey to Leh. 

The road to Basgo ruins adds on a dash of adventure. En-route on the highway, very close to saspol we really enjoyed our breakfast. We had one of the best maggie thanks to the homemade masala they added. Also, we had "Maiyas" fresh badam milk that was free off any preservatives, artificial flavor and color and had plenty of real crunchy badam flakes. 

One thing we consistently noticed and were in awe with across Ladakh and Ladakhi business was their absence for greed. At every purchase, no matter how remote the village was or how small the business was, we were charged only on MRP every single time especially "In remote corners such as Diskit, Suru just to name a few." In such locations, we totally understand if they would charge us a few more rupees. We were so impressed by their ethics when it comes to running a business. This was in stark contrast to what we come across in the city where from milk packet to bottle water "Cooling Charge" and other dismal reasons are given to charge customers more than MRP. It is not about a rupee or two but the cheapness that most of the businessman in the city go to to make a few extra bucks. Ladakh truly left a brilliant image in our minds.

The entire stretch of highway is adventurous and memorable. Our deepest gratitude to BRO and several hundred others who have toiled real hard to build and maintain such amazing highway so people like us can have an adventure of a lifetime. It was such a joy to ride on these roads that we did the Kargil - Leh stretch not nice but twice and of the 230 km highway the best part in our opinion was the amazing stretch between Likir and Nimmo. The entire stretch had absolute stunning views of the hills and the lengthy stretch is free of any obstacles hindering our view. We simply stood there soaking the views and forever etching them in our memory. 

Soak In Views Of Mesmerizing Moonland From Lamayuru Monastery!

Leh to Srinagar highway is one of the best National highways in India. Apart from the stunning Natural beauty, massive perennial rivers that form deep gorges, high altitude passes, indomitable Buddhist monasteries and sculptures beautify the highway. We rode on this beautiful highway and were on our way to another amazing monastery- Lamayuru Monastery crossing the two awesome passes on the way- Namika La and Fotu La. The highest point on the Srinagar-Leh highway is Fotu la pass and the most challenging one being Zojila Pass while Namika La offers grander views of the surrounding valley.

After crossing Namika La enroute Fotu La, we were stuck for a very long time. A mourning procession was being carried out by the followers of Islam. It was a religious event for which the followers had occupied the entire National highway for quite some time. Vehicles had piled up on either sides for a considerable amount of time. While it is perfectly right to celebrate or moan any religious/ historic event, it is nuisance to occupy a National highway and bring traffic to a standstill in the name of Religious freedom. If any religious ceremony has to be taken out on the streets then why do we have exclusive places of Worship? This was the only sour part of the entire ride as there was no need to occupy a National highway.

After the traffic was cleared, we headed to Fotu La. It was a pleasure riding on these roads and was brilliant to see sheep graze on these steep mountains and at the same time balance themselves. The roads are beautiful and its a sheer delight to ride on these perfect hairpin bend curves and we beamed with pride when we saw an old bajaj scooter turn on these sharp curves with as much ease as our bullet. It was such a beautiful moment.

We finally reached the celebrated 11 century Lamayuru Monastery. Lamayuru is also known as Moonland for it's lunar like landscape. One of the oldest and largest monasteries in Ladakh, Lamayuru means eternal in Tibetan. Also know as Yung Drung, the monastery is home to more than 150 monks and is 127 km from Leh. Legend has it that area was once a lake that dried up and is believed to have been home to around 400 monks earlier.

With most of the structure in ruins, it also houses a cave and is known as cave monastery. Naropa a Buddhist Indian scholar spent years meditating in the cave here. In the 16th century the monastery was declared a holy site where even criminals could seek sanctuary.

The mighty Indus makes this barren land fertile and there are several wooden bridges that connect the highway to the other side of the hill across the river. Like several monasteries in Ladakh region, this centuries old amazing monastery has extensive places of worship, stunning natural color wall paintings, beautiful thankas.

This was the first monastery that we saw which was more like a maze. Narrow pathways led to many chambers and alleys. All religious instruments in this monastery seemed to be covered in gold or silver including the conch. One of the highlights of the monastery is the stunning views of Moonland from here. The entry fee is Rs.50 per person. The highly commercialized monastery has plenty of stay options around.