Pangong Lake
Pangong Lake: This route takes the visitor past the picturesque villages of Shey and Thiksey, and turns off the Indus valley by the side valley of Chemrey and Sakti. The Ladakh range is crossed by the Chang-la (18,000 feet / 5,475 M)3rd Highest Motorable road in the world, which despite its great elevation is one of the easier passes, remaining open for much of the year even in winter, apart from periods of actual snowfall. Tangse, just beyond the foot of the pass, has an ancient temple. But the main attraction of this circuit is the Pangong Lake, situated at 14,000 feet (4,267 M). A long narrow basin of inland drainage, hardly six to seven kilometers at its widest point to which foreigners are permitted, is only some seven km along the southern shore from the head of the lake, but it affords spectacular views of the mountains of the Changchenmo range to the north, their reflection shimmering in the ever-changing blues and greens of the lakes brackish water. Above Spangmik are the glacier and snow-capped peaks of the Pangong range.
Chemrey Monastery or Chemrey Gompa belongs to the Drugpa monastic order. It was founded in 1664 by the Lama Tagsang Raschen and dedicated to King Sengge Namgyal.
