Ice Ice

Go in March or early April. Pangong Tso is still frozen. You can skate on it. There are hardly any tourists. The garnet hill is all yours to forage and find garnets. I believe the locals do it this way. They climb up, lie on the hill and squint downwards. If there's a glint, its a garnet. Quite unbelievable that you can pick up a rock with a garnet the size of a grape. Meanwhile, below the icy surface of the 140 km long, 7 km wide lake, the fish look at you through the ice. Some sea creature can be heard sluicing the waters below. Sea creatures did I say? Well, its the highest salt water lake. Once upon a time the Himalayas were submerged in an ancient ocean. On the side of the lake, you can see salt crystals glint when the cold sun strikes them. On the drive there you can see sand, rippled by the wind. Juxtaposed are the high snow capped mountains and glacial morraine . Marmots test the ground outside their burrow and Kiangs graze on the spartan spiny grass. Not far away is Chang La at 17800ft, a high prayer note, a bridge back to Leh.