The ride to Nubra was brilliant. We took the advice of locals and set off early from Leh to reach the military check point below Khadung La at South Pullu. The world’s highest motorable road gets narrower as it approaches the top and for most of the way there is width enough for single vehicle only. To catch the uphill-convoy we were to be at the check point no later than 11am and having left early we had plenty of time for photo-stops.

It’s not a long ride from Leh, but it does climb very high. Everybody we met told us to beware of AMS and had we acclimatised? Didn’t we know there was snow at the Pass and were we really properly prepared? We were and to top the bill the sunshine was bright and hot. The 45kms to the top (or was it the check point) was pretty straightforward; the road was broken in sections but the previous night’s landslides had all been bulldozed away.

A brief halt at the checkpoint to sign-in and off again to reach the pass. Khardung La, the signboard at the top claims 18,300ft, higher still than Tanglang La, the last pass before Leh from Manali.

Road construction was started in the late 1967 but stalled until 1986. In the regions spanning India’s northern borders, all roads are built and maintained by the Border Roads Organisation, an army of road engineers, Surveyors, mining experts, bulldozer drivers and thousands of civilian labourers, all of whose feats in road building are world famous.

The pass itself has in recent years been widened and sports a cafeteria, a souvenir shop and of course a Shiva Temple - just a little bit higher off the road. Not much to see really, but what becomes apparent, as the road slowly winds its way down through steep rocky landslides, is that you have slipped from one hidden world to an even more hidden one. Over the last 5 five years I noted small changes to the few villages we pass through, but not much has changed. Nature, it seems will keep the masses out for some time to come.

The road eventually reaches the Shyok valley and levels off gently towards the start of the twin valleys of Nubra. The houses in the style of those in Leh, are in groups of no more than 3 or 4 and often far away across the Shyok, tucked into tiny green triangular valleys, apparently miles from the nearest river crossing, remote in anyone’s book.

At the point at which the Nubra valleys split into two, we headed left, direction Diskit, the road cut into the mountain side, hanging above a dry sandy desert as far as the eye could see. High altitude grazing for the original two-humped camels, indigenous to these high Himalayan valleys and once beasts of burden along this ancient silk route. The road wends it way far below the 500 year old Diskit gumba - a favourite retreat for the Dalai Lama, sitting resplendent high on a towering rock face.

Not far to go now. Another 10kms got us to Hunder and the comfort and peace of our guest house. There are a few guest houses and camping places to choose from in Diskit and Hunder.

But the beauty for us was to sit, chat, read and relax for as long as we could in shady orchards. Glacier-chilled-water cooling our beer as it splashed through numerous mud irrigation channels set around the garden. No television, no noise, no barking dogs, just peace and quiet. We ate, drank and relaxed with our friends from Mumbai, who were visiting Ladalh for their first time. We were well rested after a few days, as anyone would be, finding themselves in paradise.