Part 5. Onwards and away...
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Ok.. now that I've confessed, let me get back to Leh
Early in the morning, the trooop bundles out of bed and into two Sumos which looked like they had atleast 150,000 Km on. When I checked later, it was actually 225k. The morning took us past beatilful Alpine sceneries, glaciers melting into rivulets, tall stony crags , cavernous pot-holes and a weird growling noise from Rajesh ( It was pre-breakfast). Breakfast was at Marhi whose only claim to fame is that it has the world's highest wood oven pizzeria.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
A sumptuous breakfast of paranthas, dahi, achaar , eggs and toast sees us on our way and we get set to cross Rohtang La, complete with a traffic jam and ice carvings at 13k ft. The wild scenery was something that was taken out of LOTR and I half expected that the Ringwraiths would not be too far behind me. This intense other worldy feeling would follow me for the rest of my trip.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
The journey as such was quite uneventful, with stream crossings, bad roads, travelling at 10kmph, peeking over sheer rock faces where a small slip means sure death. The highlight was stopping at Tanglang La, the second highest 'motorable' road in the world at 17,582 ft, although this is a highly dubious claim ( not the altitude.. but the motorable part).
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
At this point of time I was under the mistaken impression there were going to be absolutely no problems with altitude sickness and that we had acclimatised reasonably well. How wrong was I !! The end of the day's drive saw us in Bharatpur (14k) which is nothing more than a truck stop with some makeshift tents put up for weary travellers such as ourselves
Pics here (courtesy Lachhi)
The onset of the night brought on severe headaches, tumbling stomachs, constant bouts of nausea for quite a few of us. Others like Vivek and Prashant were quite free of altitude sickness. The headaches were like attacks of migraine and a sinus problem all rolled into one and all you wanted to do was reach into your nose, dig your brains out and solve the problem. But there was a far easier, though unappetizing solution.
The lady who owned the tent we stayed in suggested that I drink garlic water.... 5-6 pods of garlic boiled in half a litre of water and reduced to one cup! Of course at that altitude, water boils at 86C and it takes quite a it of time to get it done. The owner had quite a few pots of garlic water, maggi and dal on boil the whole night. For me personally, I took it quite bad and threw up quite a few times .. and I think it was because of the excess infusion of garlic in my blood stream!
Some of the others had altitude sickness tablets and infact had one too many and reached an unnatural high that had nothing to do with the fact we were in the Himalayas ;). People coped in their own way and some didnt quite get better till we descended to Leh the next day.
After a fitful nights rest, we grumbled and got into the car, after deciding who is sickest so they can sit at window, ready to throw up. A few miles up the road, I felt invigorated by the blue skies, excellent scenery and dumb jokes and singing games we played. We soon crossed the incredible scenery of Sarchu, where it looked like some giant decided to cut this vast plain in the mountains and fill it with sand
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
We came across troops of bikers who were making the annual pilgrimage from Delhi to Leh. Little did we know that Prashant will be doing the exact same thing a year later, which actually prompted me to revive this blog.
Soon after, we stopped for lunch in another one of the nondescript tent dabha along side a roaring mountain stream. These dabhas are all along the way, usually run by a woman wearing traditional Ladakhi/Tibetan clothing and helped by a small child and guarded by lean, bony dog which just wags its tail from its spot under the bench. These dabhas are quite convenient and have beds and mattresses which you can get for around Rs 50/ night and is quite clean considering the dust and grime of the rugged mountains all around.
The food they serve is quite sparse, but is enough satiate hungry travellers' appetite. Maggi is the staple diet with a bowl of noodles with some carrots, onions and tomatos if available. Paranthas, masoor dal are also on the menu as is the ubiquitous Thukpa which I quite never took a liking to. Simply put Thukpa is a Tibetan meal in bowl and is a collection of noodles, all sorts of vegetables ( and meats), some masala and boiled together and served. I'm quite certain that it is a hearty meal on a cold Ladakhi winter evening, but for me personally, "thanks but no thanks!!!"
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
Later in the afternoon, the landscape became gentler and we descended into the Indus valley near Upshi. This is the gateway to Ladakh. There is a drastic change in the scenery with excellent roads maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) under the "Himank" project. This is an excellent organisation and I'm seriously considering starting to petition them to come and do the roads in Bangalore. They work in the middle of nowhere and create roads that feel like runways in the most extreme of conditions. And ofcourse they have their milestones and warning signs..
A few samplers :
- Horn is to honk, please do it on my curves.
- Its better to be Mr late than the late Mr.
- Enjoy the scenery and protect the greenery
- If you are married, please divorce speed
- Overtaker beware of undertaker.
- Check your nerves, on my curves
- Be gentle on my curves ( Too many innuendos about curves, eh?)
- After whiskey, driving is risky.And my all time favourite: "Dont be a gama in the land of the Lama"
The Indus valley brings with it gompas on top of dusty hills with yellow fields of mustard alongside swiftly flowing irrigation channels. There wasn't a soul in the road or a cloud in the cloud in the sky and the two Sumos we were on was the only sign of human life around. As we got towards Leh, peoples phones started buzzing as we withing striking range of mobile towers. But ofcourse, only Airtel worked...
The group started getting a little antsy after a long day spent in the confines of the vehicle and were eager to get out and stretch their legs. The increased traffic, the army barracks , the cyclists and the general feeling of life invigorated everyone as we patiently drove into Leh.
Getting into the city looked like it was someplace outside India, with its German bakeries, Italian and Israeli restaurants and the overall atmosphere of being a backpackers/hippie hub and an over all tourist trap. After a few discussion with Namgyal, who had arranged for the porters and guide for the rest of the trek, we got into our rooms in a new guest house set amidst towering casuarina trees and right in the middle of a mustard yard that was in full bloom.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
What struck me about this particular place ( and infact all over Ladakh) was the fact that none of the houses had any grills on the windows! I think it has something to do with the fact that there is little to no crime in city and the folks are really trusting of each other. After a bit of climbing in and out of the windows, and getting yelled at by the proprietor, we rested our exhausted bodies and fell into a long deep slumber after a nice meal and some walking around.
Trampled byY Trip at Saturday, September 06, 2008
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