I kept notes on my phone every evening. This is what they say, lightly edited for coherence but not for honesty.
Day 1 — Arrival
Landed 9:15 AM. Driver from the guesthouse was waiting with a handwritten sign. 20-minute drive to Changspa. Room was small, clean, had a mountain view through the window. Guesthouse owner brought tea without being asked. Said "rest today, nothing else." Went to sleep at 2 PM and woke up at 6 PM with a headache. Ate something small. Went back to sleep.
Day 2 — Leh City
Headache gone. Walked to the old town — spent two hours in the lanes below Leh Palace. Got mildly lost. Ate lunch at a small place run by a Tibetan family, no English menu, pointed at what the next table had ordered (thukpa — very good). Climbed to Shanti Stupa at 4 PM. Stayed until sunset. Three other solo travellers also there at sunset; we nodded at each other in the way that solo travellers acknowledge each other in extraordinary places.
Day 3 — Nubra Valley
Left Leh 7 AM. Khardung La at 9:30 AM — fifteen minutes, photograph at signboard, chai that tasted excellent due to altitude and cold. Arrived Hunder 1:30 PM. Camel ride at 3 PM — bought it knowing it was for photographs and it absolutely was. Sunset from the far side of the dune field, away from the tourist area, no one else there. Cold. Worth it.
Day 4 — Diskit, Return to Leh
Diskit Monastery at 7 AM sunrise. The 32-metre Maitreya statue above the valley with first light hitting it — better than any photo I'd seen. Back to Leh by 3 PM. Dinner at Tibetan Kitchen on Fort Road. Stared at my notes for the article I was planning to write and wrote nothing.
Day 5 — Pangong
Left 6 AM. Chang La at 9 AM — colder than Khardung La, more military activity at the checkpoint. Arrived Pangong 12:30 PM. First view around the last canyon corner: exactly as described. Unphotographable. Photographed it anyway. Afternoon in the camp. Met two other solo travellers who turned out to be travelling in the same direction for the next three days.
Day 6 — Pangong Sunrise, Return
4:30 AM alarm. 5:00 AM sunrise at the shore. Already described elsewhere; cannot improve on it. Returned to Leh via alternate route. Stopped at Thiksey at noon. Paid ₹50 entry. Entirely worth it for the 15-metre Maitreya Buddha alone.
Day 7 — Tso Moriri Drive
240km, 8 hours. Crossed Tanglang La (5,328m). The Changthang plateau is extraordinary — flat, high, seemingly infinite, with a horizon that doesn't curve. Saw a herd of kiangs (wild asses). Arrived Korzok village at Tso Moriri in the evening. No mobile signal. Stars visible before it was fully dark.
Day 8 — Tso Moriri
Morning walk along the lake shore. Saw black-necked cranes. The lake is different from Pangong — greener, with brown mountains rather than snow-capped ones, quieter, more austere. Korzok Monastery at noon — small, ancient, a monk who spoke some English explained the paintings in the main hall. No other tourists. This is the correct way to experience Ladakh's remote regions.
Day 9 — Return to Leh
Long drive. Bought dried apricots and sea buckthorn jam at the Leh market. These are genuinely excellent and make outstanding gifts. Dinner at a restaurant in Changspa with a terrace where several solo travellers had coalesced as we do. Good conversation. Early bed.
Day 10 — Departure
Flight at 11 AM. At the airport at 9 AM. Sat outside the departure hall and looked at the Stok Kangri range for thirty minutes. Made a mental note of every reason to come back: Zanskar. The Chadar trek. Hanle. The Markha Valley. Turtuk village near the Pakistan border. Lamayuru. The Sham Valley trek. Winter. There is no version of this trip where you don't want to come back.
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