Pangong Lake

A memorable 4½-hour, 150-km (93-mi) drive east from Leh across an unforgiving landscape takes you to a stunning jewel of a lake on India's border with China. The Pangong Lake, at 134 km (83 mi) long, one of the highest saltwater lakes in the world, stretches like a finger from India into China; only one-third of it in India.

To make this journey you need to plan ahead. The Inner Line Permit you must have to get to this border area takes one working day to be issued by the local government. It can be organized through your hotel or travel agent, and it requires that a group of four tourists make the journey. There are very limited eating and camping facilities by the lake, so it's best to plan on returning back to town the same day. An early start is therefore important. Take along a packed lunch, water, sunglasses, plenty of warm clothes, and toilet paper.

The journey to Pangong Lake, which begins on the Srinagar road, takes you past Shey Palace and Thikse monastery (36 km from Leh). If you get going early and have plenty of energy, you could take in either the monastery or the palace on your return. The driver will want some extra payment for these side trips.

About 45 km (28 mi) from Leh the road breaks away from the highway to meander through isolated countryside: little farms, a few villages, tiny monasteries. After a while habitation melts away and the road climbs through gray, monotonous boulder-ridden terrain to reach the third-highest pass in the world: the Chang La. The Indian army provides very welcome piping hot tea and a not-so-clean bathroom at this snowy outpost, where the thin air will leave you panting for breath. The lake is still two hours and three villages beyond.

During your descent from the snows of Chang La you pass herds of black-and-white yaks, flocks of sheep, nomadic herding communities living in tents, and, if you're lucky, some wild mountain goats. Sustenance is eked out around here from pashmina wool and from growing wheat and peas in the fertile patches. The land, often covered in a red lichen-like vegetation, is flat and harsh-looking—it's almost as if you're in the middle of central Mongolia rather than India.

As you turn the last few mountain corners you are treading pebbled riverbeds and icy slush and the road disappears. It's then that tantalizing glimpses of the shimmering sapphire-blue Pangong Lake first appear. The lake is sparkling, salty, and free of fish. Its white shores are actually strips of deposited sand. The iridescent, hypnotizing blue of the lake against the bleak brown, towering mountains is dazzling, as is the sheer solitude here.

Here on the India end of lake, there's little more than a tiny army station with a bathroom and a few huts offering tea (in summer) at Spangmik and an occasional donkey (known locally as kiang). Spangmik is the farthest point you can go on the shores of the lake; beyond is off limits.

The Indian Army has a large settlement 50 km (31 mi) ahead in the village of Chushul (off-limits to tourists). After that, China begins—or so that country claims. The area, called Aksai Chin by India, has been in dispute since China occupied this area in 1962.