Have you ever been to any village that was part of a different country and became part of another? Have you ever seen a double-humped camel? Just be there with us as we take you on another exciting story about our day trip to Turtuk Village. However, this blog is more than just Turtuk. It has two other villages that we will unfold gradually.
In case you don’t know who we are…
We call ourselves Travel Freaks…
We were having the time of our life exploring the Ladakh region. Till now, we explored many places in the Ladakh region, especially Kargil and Leh. In case you haven’t read our previous blogs, do read it. You will get a glimpse of those places as well as be able to plan your perfect itinerary.
Returning to our story, we reached Nubra Valley the previous afternoon and halted in Diskit. We planned to depart by 8 o’clock after breakfast. As usual, our excitement was at its peak. We departed at around 8:20 AM. The best part was that we were acclimatized to the weather of Nubra Valley.
Let’s highlight the main stoppages that we had on the way. The first on the list was…….
1. Thang Village
The journey started on a positive note, with the temperature around 10-15 degrees Celsius. It was also quite sunny. The countryside view was breathtaking, as usual. We loved the landscape we came across, with the Shyok River flowing by the side of the road.
Soon, we came across the Nubra Military Airport, which was highly vigilant as far as the army was concerned. The airport was quite vast, given the location at a high altitude. We halted for a brief moment on the way near the Turtuk Village due to its picturesque location. After a few snaps, we continued our journey.
Apart from the view, the road was mostly smooth and a biker’s paradise. A big shout out to the Border Roads Organisation for maintaining such superb connectivity even in the remotest of places. Finally, after a three-hour ride, we reached the final village of the Indian Border, Thang.
We went to the viewpoint where one could get a glimpse of the Pakistani Check Post with their last village, Pharnu. From this viewpoint, you could rent binoculars to catch a glimpse of the Pakistani side that was difficult to witness with the naked eye. Apart from the viewpoint, there were a few restaurants for visitors and dry fruit stalls set up by the villagers. Apricots were pretty famous in the region. Also, you could taste them and buy them if you loved the taste.
We loved the ambience of the place. After discussing with a local, we learned that the village of Thang was a part of Pakistan before 1971. However, after the 1971 war, the village came under the control of India. Many villagers have their close ones in present-day Pakistan. Another important thing to note is that only Indians are allowed till the Thang Village, and non-Indians are allowed till the second last village, Tyakshi.
Now that we have introduced Tyakshi, you might want to know more about…….
2. Tyakshi Village
After spending about an hour at the viewpoint of the Indo-Pak Border, we were starving for lunch. We already got it packed when we started in the morning. We needed a place to sit and have it. We decided to have it in the Tyakshi Village.
It was a 20-minute ride from the Thang View Point. As soon as we got out of our vehicle, a local greeted us and enquired if we needed any help. We replied that we needed a place to have our lunch. He showed us a restaurant where we could sit and have our lunch. It was such a nice gesture from the locals. The restaurant was just by the side of the road. In no time, we were done with our lunch; the time was around 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
We felt like visiting the Tyakshi Village and meeting the villagers. One of the shop owners showed us the way to the village. It was on a different way from the main road. We started our hike for half an hour and then returned, or else we would be late for another adventurous activity.
We would suggest our readers plan for a visit to the Tyakshi Village. You would love the landscape, and the locals were way more generous than we imagined. Nevertheless, we continued our return journey.
3. Turtuk Village
This was another 15-minute ride from the Tyakshi Village. Another surprising thing we learned after getting out of our vehicle was that Turtuk Village was also part of Pakistan, apart from Thang and Tyakshi Village. We thought it was only Thang.
We saw the Shyok River flowing with the beautiful Apricot Orchards on the backdrop. We stopped by a bridge and relaxed there for half an hour.
This place also serves as a gateway to the Siachen Glacier. The environment was quite peaceful. Many travellers also opt to halt at Turtuk Village before continuing their journey. There are many stay options at Turtuk.
For us, we were returning to our stay at Diskit, Nubra Valley. It was around 3 o’clock when we started from Turtuk Village to reach……
4. Hunder Sand Dune
Do you remember a question we asked at the beginning of this blog regarding double-humped camels? This is the only place in India where you will find camel with two humps. We continued our journey for 2.5 hours until we reached the Hunder Sand Dune.
We were pretty excited to see the camels. A 15-minute ride costs 350 INR, and one hour ride costs 700 INR. We opted for a 15-minute ride to enjoy the white sand dune.
The camel ride was a unique one. It was weird. But we felt safe sitting between the two humps. The ride ended in the blink of an eye.
The place was a bit crowded with visitors. Many locals seemed to enjoy the dusk in the sand dunes. We wanted to stay longer, but as it was getting dark, we returned to our stay at Diskit by close to 6:30 PM.
After reaching back to our stay, we relaxed in the hotel lobby. A fantastic day came to an end.
Hope you got a glimpse of our day trip to Turtuk, and do follow us for the next blog in the Ladakh blog series.
Wait! We are not going anywhere without this last question……
5. What kind of help are we going to provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will give you a glimpse of our journey and help you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Read about our Andaman and Nicobar blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and watch for the next destination story of a new place. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau