part 4. The story of the Hippie, the river and Bob Marley
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“Why do you look so sad and foresaken ?
When one door is closed,
Don’t you know that another is open ?”
-Bob Marley
The morning light brought us to some of the lower lying hills of the Himalayas where we quickly stopped for tea and a bio-break. Theglorious sunrise over the hills raises ones spirits and washes away any exhaustion from the long bus journey. As the bus winds its way up the hill side, it offered some excellent views of the Beas valley. Through twists, turns and tunnels, the bus offered one breathtaking view after another. But this was just the start.
 |
| From Leh and the great Trek |
 |
| From Leh and the great Trek |
Once the bus reached Manali, we legged it to the hotel, which was just a little bit off the main drag called the Mall. As a side note, any hill town in India has just one main street and almost everything that’s there to be done in that town goes on here. You see the same thing in Ooty, Kodaikanal, Nainital and a scores of other places in the Himalayas. And its of no surprise that most of the main roads in are called “the Mall”
The hotel looked more like an apartment complex with a small reception area with a pretty garden. The rooms were sparse at best with mouldy carpets, creaky beds and a non working TV. We stepped out after washing up and looked around for lunch. We then stepped into one of the numerous Sher-e-Punjabs - Sher-e-Punjab, Original Sher-e-Punjab, Asli Sher-e-Punjab and so on that dotted the Mall. A quick meal was followed by a quick nap which didn’t materialize.
At this point the group split again and one set went off Zorbing and so on, while Lacchi,Vivek, Suchi, Prashant, Soumya , Hamy and me went walking along the river Beas to Vashisht Temple. The walk along the river was absolutely beautiful, marred only by the diesel fumes from jeeps and trucks heading over Khar-Dungla pass and into the dusty mountains of Ladakh with essential supplies.
We stopped for quite a bit at the river and just took in the surrounding beauty of the place with the mountains in the backdrop, conifers along the river and the chillness in the air. We sat on the boulder splashing water on each other like children at and had to yell over the roar of the river. With great reluctance we got off the banks and were back on the road and paused for some pictures near the last petrol pump in the valley of the gods.
 |
| From Leh and the great Trek |
 |
| From Leh and the great Trek |
 |
| From Leh and the great Trek |
A quick diversion up the side of a hill along some apple orchards brought us to Vashist, a temple with sulphurous hot springs that stank of rotten eggs. The place obviously had seen holier days, and now was a hippie joint with Bob Marley movies playing alongside cafes that served Jewish bread and a Rasta hat wearing beggar with dreadlocks. Or the stoned German tourist who confused the previous days stock report for her horoscope.
The walk back towards Manali was equally uneventful and we stepped into a couple of shops to buy some curios. Lacchi and I stepped into a tea shop to meet with the guy who organized the jeeps for our trip to Leh the next morning. The room in which we were staying became the war room and we discussed logistics and the revised itinerary for the trek.
Trampled byY Trip at Wednesday, February 27, 2008 0 comments
Part 3. The incredible flying roti and a Bus
At this point the group split with some of us doing the checking in and a few others going out to get food for everyone. The dorms were orderly, for the lack of a better word. The room had 12 beds, with 3 double bunk beds on either side of the room. Everybody wound down and started on the food that had just been brought. Excellent paneer (scrumptilicious) , wonderful daal (Delecioutable) and dreadful roti ( Frisbee-esque).
After tossing a roti around for a bit, we bunked down for the night set ourselves for a lot of snoring and disturbed sleep. The next morning, I split from the group to visit my cousin. After a number of trips on the Metro, (which reminded me of the metro in Tokyo) and lot of walking around Connaught Place, I meet up with the gang at a Coffee Day outlet, where for the first time the whole group has come together
The Volvo bus to Manali picked us up at the HPTDC office after an hours delay. As the bus weaved in and out of traffic, I couldn’t help thinking about the road ahead and the expectations we had for the journey. Very soon, the bus hit the highway and we were steadily making our way northwards. After a quick pit-stop at a dhaba, we set off again. The TV in the bus played Pyaar ke side effects, but the DVD kept skipping with the voice totally out of synch with the image. It was hilarious to watch Mallika sherawat talk in a male voice... I got bored pretty soon nodded off to sleep.
Trampled byY Trip at Wednesday, February 27, 2008 0 comments
Part 2. Flight into danger
After months of planning, the group (barring Vivek) braves the monsoon rains and the insane Bangalore traffic and reaches the airport and check in the bags. After what seemed to be an eternity, we are finally onboard the IndiGo flight. The beginnings are ominous as the captain announces that we were in for a pretty choppy flight.
The group was in reasonably high spirits and we did our best to irritate people around us by yakking at each other across the aisle and over rows of seats. There was no dinner service, but a dainty looking air-hostess came around selling stuff and caused quite a flurry among the guys after she had gone past the seats.
Just when we were beginning to settle down and relax, the plane hit this great air pocket and dropped quite a bit setting off some stifled screams and audible gasps from everyone around. The rest of the journey was filled with lot of rattling and shaking and me regretting that I had bought the wrong book to read on a plane ( Airport - Arthur Hailey).
After an uneventful landing, we got out on the tarmac at IGI, where the July heat hit us with the intensity of a blast furnace left open. Picking up our bags, we got on to a bus service (Rs. 50) that dropped us off at Chanakyapuri near YHAI. Since we reached pretty late, the gates were already closed and I can’t quite remember if we found an open gate or if we jumped over it.
Trampled byY Trip at Wednesday, February 27, 2008 0 comments
Part 1. Juley ! ( or How It All Began )
Friday, October 26, 2007
It's taken me three months to get down to this. Over the next few posts, I'm going to try to document the trials and tribulations that I went through over the months to embark on the trip of a lifetime..no..make that two lifetimes.
It all started sometime in the early days of January 2007 when I got a bug into my head that I need to get off my behind and do some travelling. And so, a few weeks later I found out that Suchitra and company were in the initial stages of planning a trip to Ladakh in July.
The first draft of the itenerary provided by Lacchi promised a punishing 12 day schedule
Day 1 - Bangalore - Delhi - Leh
Day 2 - Leh and surrounds; acclimatisation
Day 3 - Acclimatisation redux
Day 4 - Jeep ride to Spituk
Day 5 - Lamayuru to Wanla ( via Prinkti La )
Day 6 - Wanla to Urshi
Day 7 - Urshi to Tarla Tar
Day 8 - Tarla Tar to Mang Gyu
Day 9 - Mang Gyu to Gera to Alchi
Day 10 - Alchi to Basgo to Likir to Leh
Day 11- Pangong Lake by jeep
Day 12 - Leh - Delhi - Bangalore
I first came across this on the 13th of February and I instantly fell in love with the plan. All that remained was that I had to pull together the guts to spend 7 days in the boondocks. Then I asked myself " If not now, then when" and that did it. I was sold, come what may, I was going through with this. I convinced Suchitra that I wanted a piece of the action and got along headlong into the planning , thinking and preparation ( oh really !?!?)
By the end of February we had the initial costs and the itenerary laid out, the dates decided ( July 13th to 27th ) , begged our managers to graciously grant us leave and mentally psyched ourselves.
March comes along and Prashant jumps in too. The first change to the itenerary starts with us deciding to travel on road to Leh from Delhi via Manali. The reason is twofold - Its a scenic drive and it helps acclimatisation. But then as we would discover later on, the drive can literally break your back, and the acclimatisation doesnt really help at all.
The troop list reads as follows :
Suchi ( Special mention - Who brought this together!!)
Suma
PJ
Sharath
Srinivas
Hamy
Soumya
Sumanth
Karthik
Rajesh
Pawan
Prashant
Vivek
Lacchi ( Who kept us alive the whole trip and arranged all the details !!!)
and yours truly
One of the major challenges we faced was that quite a few of us didnt know each other and we definitely needed intro sessions and bonding activities so that we gel well as a group and have fun on the trip. There were many abortive attempts to meet on saturdays and given the size of the group it was near impossible getting everyone together at the same time.
One of the activities was a night trek to Skandagiri a.k.a Karavarahalli betta which was also supposed to be a conditioning camp. More about this in a later post, though. The group did not make it together here, too
A few weeks later, Rajesh had a brainwave ... "Why don't we all meet at Cubbon Park on Saturday at 730 am". When I read this email, my eyes literally rolled up and I shuddered at the thought of losing sleep on a Saturday morning. Needless to say, I didnt wake up. Suchi calls me up that morning and gives me a cheery "Hey pal, where are you".. I vaguely remember muttering something rude and smothering my face in my pillow. An hour or so later, I pull myself into Prashants car and doze on the way. This was it. The first meeting of the Leh gang.
But alas I'm too late, I get to meet Pawan, Rajesh and Suma. The dosa and the khara bhat more than made up for the lost sleep.
One fine Saturday morning, we go to Java City where I meet Lacchi and I ask all my questions, clarigy my doubts and come out a bit preplexed. Lacchi is a really experienced chap and manages to make quite a few long treks every year. It really helps to work for the government and manage so many holidays. Lacchi is a hardcore trekker a man of many talents ( he's a good photographer) and has had quite a few accomplishments, the most memorable one to my mind are his experiences while going to Everest Base camp.
Our final pre-departure itenerary for the trek can be downloaded at this link
Lacchi makes a list of recommendations and we start creating lists of things we'd need to purchase and I diligently make notes, which I promptly forget at the cafe. So then I go around asking people for their notes and start building mine up from scratch.
The days roll by and July comes along and the tension is palpable in the air with our flights just around the corner. We start exchanging check lists, print out phone numbers, go on shopping expeditions to Metro ( a Wal-Mart style place) to buy track suits, shoes, chocolates, sun block, shampoo, mountain money ( a.k.a toilet paper), wet tissues and lots of other things that will later be brought back intact to Bangalore.
We pick up our 40 L rucksacks from Lacchi and I decide to use my 30L bag that I bought from Philly in 2005 and pack light. We cross check our lists once again and in the meanwhile, tying up things at work so that our absence is barely noticed.
As the week of July 13th draws to an end, I have absolutely no enthusiasm to get anything done. Everything seems lighter, everybody are happier, there is lesser traffic on the road and all is well with the world.
July 13th : I wake up knowing that by the end of the day, I'll be in a different city starting one of the best adventures of my life. That day I can barely eat anything and I have a perpetual smile on my face. around 230, I set my out of office reply. and I'm away.
Back home, I take quick shower and recheck my bags and in the pouring rain, get to Prashant's house and onward to the airport where an adventure awaits....
Trampled byY Trip at Friday, October 26, 2007 1 comments
Labels: camp, chaos, ladakh, Leh, trek, vacation
