over the mighty Chang La to the 'ethereal' Pangong Lake, adjoining the Chinese border - by far the most beautiful place any of us had seen before. Then we drive over the world's highest motorable road, Khardung La, at 18,380 feet above sea level, where you feel light headed. We literally felt on top of the world when we alighted the Endeavour at Khardung La.

The nine days we spent on the road was by far one of the happiest moments of our lives, and if given the chance to relive them all over again, we would definitely jump to it.

Day Five
The alarm clock that had so far failed majestically in performing its sole duty on our journey so far had finally come good, waking me up with its shrill ringing the moment the hour hand settled on eight the next morning. Ashok was already up, and I could hear him humming an old Bryan Adams tune in the shower. The fifth day of our trip was a day for the exploration of Leh and its surrounding areas, said to be rich in terms of monasteries and old palaces.

Our first stop was at Thiksey Monastery that was 20kms before Leh on the Leh-Manali highway. Built somewhere in the 15th century, Thiksey Monastery is the seat of the main leader of the Gelukpa order of Buddhism and is one of the leading monasteries of the region. The monastery or Gompa as they are known in the local dialect is a 12-storey edifice built in the traditional Buddhist style and situated on a hill.

Seen from the ground, the monastery resembles a city of an ancient civilization with its collection of old white houses scattered all over the hill. As we climbed the stairs that would take us take to the summit, we came across several Buddhist monks, some shy and some very shy, but all of them very young, talking on the phone in an animated tone. How much the world had changed I thought, even men and children of god were no longer immune from the usage of tools of the modern day like, the mobile phone.

Thiksey Monastery presents a stunning view of the surrounding landscape. Ashok and I were left dumbfounded by the beauty and incongruity of the tiny Ladakhi village with lush green pastures and trees in full bloom that lay down below in the middle of a parched desert like dry land and mountains. Perhaps, it was the river Indus who in its journey through the village made the land fertile and hospitable to flora.

To be quite candid, if you have seen one monastery then you have seen all monasteries, as they are not too dissimilar from each other. Hemis Gompa, 47kms out of Leh is the wealthiest and biggest monastery in Ladakh. Seat of the Dugpa Order of Buddhism, the monastery is located inside a gorge on the Western part of the Indus River. Ashok and I spent half an hour inside one of the many temples in the monastery, clicking pictures of the Lord Buddha and numerous scrolls. We struck up a conversation with a very friendly Lama who was kind enough to impart some knowledge on Buddhism to us. It was so peaceful inside, the kind of peace us city folks forgot that existed.

On the way out of Hemis Gompa drama unfolded. An old Mercedes caravan that had been driven thousands of miles all the way from Germany by five old Germans had got stuck in one of the tight corners leading to the monastery, thus causing much excitement among the scores of young Lama's gathered by the side of the road. The whole place erupted in laughter and clapping when after much pushing, wheel-spinning and cursing in fine German the caravan was at last free to resume its journey.

On the way back to town, we dropped in at Shey palace, which falls on the road to Leh and not too far from Thiksey Monastery. Shey was the first capital of Ladakh and the palace was built by King Namgyal in the 16th century AD. Perched on a hill, the climb to the derelict palace was strenuous and risky with no properly constructed path. It was more like a trekking expedition, as we had to walk over rocks and boulders until we reached the top. It made the Thiksey Gompa climb of the morning seem like a walk in the park. The word 'Shey' in Ladakhi means 'reflection', and that is perhaps how the place got its name as the beauty of the palace ruins is clearly reflected in the still water of the lake below. Shey palace like Thiksey Gompa presents a panoramic view of the villages and its green pastures down below.

A site worth seeing in Leh is the magnificent Shanti Stupa, which sits on a raised platform overlooking the city of Leh. Built by a Japanese organization to commemorate 2500 years of Buddhism and to promote world peace, the white domed Stupa is thronged by hordes of tourists, especially in the morning and evening to catch a glimpse of the sunrise and sunset. By the time we got to the top of Shanti Stupa, the sun had already bid adieu to this part of the world, but we did catch some fine pictures of the Stupa. At night when the Stupa is brightly illuminated, you almost feel reluctant to leave the place, as if it is holding you back and pleading you to hear its stories.