Day 14 (17th July) Kargil to Leh

The road out of Kargil (2,765 metres ASL) crosses a bridge over the river and serpentines up through some very pleasant countryside with the road lined with bundles of straw being dried for fodder. It passes through Mulbekh (3,313 m,) where the land becomes much more mountainous. The bare hills are cut by gorges with rivers rushing through them lined with dense forests of poplars, pines and apricot and apple trees. Mulbekh has a 13th century monastery located on a hill 200 metres above the road, with a 9-metre high 8th century rock-cut Maitreya Buddha a short distance from the road. We were hoping to see it but could not find it and there were no signs. From Mulbekh the road climbs to the Namkala Pass (3,852 m) and then passes through bare rugged countryside until it serpentines up to the Futula Pass (4,124 m,).There are numerous extremely sharp hairpin bends both up to the pass (from which snow-capped peaks can be seen) and down the other side. The mountains have different colours depending on the chemical composition of the rock, reminding us of western Tibet. There are mountains of grey, black, yellow, purple, red and green stone. Roadside signs advertise the presence of ibex, Himalayan wolf, bear, golden eagle and many other animals and birds. We stopped at the Futula Restaurant at Lamaruru at the eastern foot of the pass for a meal of tomato soup and momos. The land is now unmistakably Buddhist with numerous white stupas in every village and occasionally a large one. We stopped at a roadside temple and gave the huge prayer wheel a few turns. It differs from those we have seen in Nepal, China and Tibet in that it rings a gong with every turn, Eventually the road reached Leh which looks much bigger than I expected because of its linear development. Mukesh had booked us into the smart Hill Top Heaven hotel at the northern end of the city.