We came inside the canteen and warmed ourselves with a heavy breakfast. We discussed with the manager about our day’s plan and asked him for directions and must visit places. Though we had done our study about this trip, it is always better to ask the local. There is always a possibility to find something interesting out of the route from them. So we went to our room, took a quick shower and came down to warm the motorcycle up. Though it was bright sunny, but did not affect the cold much. We had planned to see Khecheopalri Lake which is a sacred lake for Buddhist and Hindus, few waterfalls on the way, Rock garden, Pemayangtse Monastery and Rabdentse Ruins. It was definitely a huge list for the day, but we thought of giving it a try. Obviously we did not want to miss any of these but wanted to do justice to each of them either. So we took a route to Khecheopalri Lake which is a beautiful mountainous road, having waterfalls and water streams accompanying us. The morning was fresh and beautiful. All the various aromas of wet soil, streams, green plants, snow capped mountains filled our souls.

                We reached Khecheopalri Lake, which is inside a forest. We parked our bike at the entrance and entered a narrow pathway built with stones and surrounded by lush greenery. The path goes deep into the jungle and ends at the Lake. We took a small pleasant walk through this dense forested path and reached the lake. The lake surroundings are kept clean and we could see small rock towers every here and there. I had read it somewhere, that in Tibetan tradition, people make small stone towers by pilling up stones on top of each other. It seems, making these towers in sacred places like this lake, would fulfill their wishes. There was a narrow wooden path-way made to reach the lake. This path-way had Tibetan rotating praying wheels on both sides. There are sacred scriptures and prayers written on these wheels and in Tibetan tradition if one makes these wheels rotate while passing by, is as good as saying the prayer himself. We went through this pathway till the lake and were watching the visitors go by. From here we could see entire lake and it’s surrounding mountains. The spot where we were standing was flooded with big fishes and they were swimming down there calmly. People were not allowed  to put anything into the lake as offering. It was nice to see nature in harmony. We spent a little time taking photographs and then walked back to the entrance. At the entrance we saw some shops selling Tibetan praying flags. We bought a few to keep this place in our memory and tied one flag string to our beloved motorcycle who was making sure that our journey is safe. It was still early in the morning and we had plenty of time in our hand. So we started our journey back to reach Rock garden. This rock garden has been built on the slope of hill alongside a river. One has to climb down some steps to reach the garden. There was nothing special about this garden, but the only plus point being there was no visitor there. As the name suggests, it is a stone made garden at the crystal clear river bank. We sat along the river bed to watch the calm river flow. The bluish green shades of river water made us calm and relaxed. The water was so clean, that we could actually see the river bottom stones. We just sat there for some time, listening to the river water sounds, as it was making it’s way through big stones. After capturing some calm moments, we came up at the entrance. While we were gearing up for our journey back, the guard at the gate asked us from where we were. He was in his mid 60’s and very friendly. He was staying with his daughters temporarily in one of the rooms kept for staff. He told us how his wife and family were staying in hill side village far from this place, but after his wife expired he had to move his daughters here with him. He gave us directions and wished us luck for our journey ahead with his wrinkled smiling face. The one I could never forget. While returning back from rock garden we saw two waterfalls pass by, but did not stop there.