Dhankar Lake, Spiti

I still remember the day so clearly. Dhankar was our last stop on the Spiti Homestay Trek. And the place is magical. The Dhankar village in itself is so charming, our homestay was in a house next to the fort in ruins.The river Spiti flows by the village and the sunset was over magestic mountains which we watched from the roof of our home stay.

Flowers on the way to Dhankar Lake

I went to sleep with that day quite tired but sure that the next day I wanted to trek to the Dhankar Lake. Anjan came with me and Sesha and Dilip (my nephew) refused to wake up in the morning. And what views he missed!

Dhankar Lake, Spiti

We trekked for a little more than hour, all mildly uphill to reach the lake. And what a place it was. I consider another picture to be my best shot of Dhankar Lake but even these two pictures are no less. I was so happy to click all these reflections in the water!

Another View of Dhankar Lake, Spiti

And the best part was there were just three of us around. the lake It feels like such a long time ago (it was June 2007) yet I can remember so much about the day without any notes, just from memory. Like the flowers in the first shot, they were actually quite far away from the road and try as I might, I did not manage to get a decent shot of them. And that Anjan found my habit of stopping to take a picture of every flower on the way quite amusing. That a village heardsman stopped and insisted that I took a picture of him. That there were a lot of workers walking up hill with heavy pipes and great difficulty for some water work in progress. We ate que for dinner the night before that Dilip and Sesha did not like too much but I did!

Some of the Most Beautiful Lakes I have Seen in India

Two things prompted this post. One, a beautiful post on water bodies by Arun. Then we were discussing Lansdowne at Indiamike. We started discussing Bhulla Tal (Lake), a man made lake.Shashank and I were of the view that this Tal is not out of the ordinary. That is when I started thinking of the really beautiful lakes (all high altitude) I have seen in India.

Bhulla Tal, Lansdowne, Uttrakhand

Prashar Lake, Himachal Pradesh

Obviously one such lake is Prashar Lake and you have seen better pictures of it taken by Anil on my blog.

Changu Lake with Yak in Sikkim

This is Changu Lake in Sikkim. I clicked this picture on the way to Nathu-La and while coming back the fog was so thick the lake was not at all visible.

Dhankar Lake, Spiti

I got lucky when I took this picture in Dhankar, Spiti. It was 9.30-10 in the morning and there were a lot of clouds in the sky. But for a moment the sun came out and I got this perfect reflection.

Pangong Lake, Ladakh

Pangong Lake is such a beauty. This is one place that is even more beautiful than this picture suggests and Ladakh remains one of my all time favorite destinations.