Part 8. The First day
Saturday, March 28, 2009
We broke camp really early, budled up our sleeping bags , changed inside the tent and packed our ruck sacks. The arrangement we had was quite convenient to novice trekkers suck as ourselves : Our ruck sacks, sleepingbags, tents, vessels and equipment would be carried by mules/donkeys from one campsite to another. The support staff will clear the campsite, fold the tents, pack the equipment and put them all on the mules to the next campsite. Often, they would leave long after we left and would pass us on the trail around lunch time. It was amazing to see how fit and untiring they were! Without them, it would have been quite impossible for us city slickers to make it from one site to another with all that heavy equipment. This arrangement enabled us to carry only a small backpack filled with essentials like a couple of bottle of waters, our lunch boxes and anything else we wanted to carry on the actual trek
After a hearty breakfast and walk along a stream which was running low. We constantly crossed and re crossed the stream. Very often, the stream was too wide for us to jump across and the guides helped place large stones in the middle of the stream which we used as stepping stones.
Spirits were generally high and we trudged up the mountain to reach Pringti-La. Given the level of fitness I was in, I was the last one to reach the top after much huffing and puffing. Each step seemed tougher than the previous one and my lungs were simply screaming out for attention and I was almost always at the end of the line going up. Prashant and Vivek constantly goaded me up kept my now flagging spirits up. Terbej, one of the guides made sure that the tail end of the convoy, namely me, made it in one piece
Terbej, Karthik, Vivek & SumanthReaching the peak was a momentous occassion and an overwhelming feeling of achieving something took over me. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating as I crawled up the last few meters to the top to see the whole group lying down and recouping for the journey downhill. In unision, we raised our voices to proclaim " Khi Khi So So Lar Gya La" to proclaim our success crossing our first Himalayan pass. At every pass, one can see a little pile of rocks and prayer flags
Lacchi at a pass... note the prayer flags
(Pic Courtesy Lachhii)Once we crossed Wanla, we came on to a tar road ( better than the ones in Bangalore) which proved to be the last motorable road we'd see until the end of the trek. We walked all along a river with a very unique irrigation method. Channels are carved out at river level and slope gently downwards, but not at the same gradient as the river. Gravity pushes down water down the irrigation ditches and waters terraced fields on the barren mountain side. It is really wonderful to see innovation among people who do not have access to basic facilities, driven largely by the terrain. Necessity, truly is the mother of invention
(Click view larger image)
The world's hardest trek routeyikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A couple of hours of walk over the road brought us to another rest stop, where we had a few snacks and some well deserved rest. The walk on the tar surface was quite tiring and we covered about 8-10 kilometers which was quite hard on the knees.
We rested at a campsite along a , in a grove of trees. The camp site was spartan at best, with a single shack housing the watchman and his family. When we arrived a hose was connected to a tap where we washed up and opened our tiffin boxes and ate what we could. The food went down pretty hard and I personally relished the chocolate bar more than any thing. Through the trip, chocolate bars were the primary source of energy for me.
After lunch, Vivek, Prashant and I scouted around and found steps that led down to the river. We washed up, snoozed a bit, and dipped our tired feet in the icy water. Almost instantly, the tiredness and the soreness vanished. Now, I could truly relate to Messrs. Waters and Gilmour when they were describing being comfortably numb.
Sonam.. our lead guideWe were abruptly woken up from this reverie when one of the others called us up for a 'team meeting'. I sensed something was wrong when people were huddled together talking in hushed tones. There were some concerns as to how the trek was going on and it seemed as if there was an in what what people expected to see en route. As the discussion progressed, I was dismayed to see the group getting fractured so early on! I guess it was the good old group dynamics of "forming-storming-norming-performing" at work. There were some who insisted that we turn back, go to Leh and go on an alternate route at the same cost as what had already been incurred.
I guess people expected alpine scenery and a much gentler walk in the park. Trekking in Ladakh is not easy and demands will power over sheer strength. It takes a lot to plod ahead, putting one step in front of the other, expecting the end of the trail to be just 'beyond the bend'. More often than not, coming around the bend shows just how far you have to go and how little you actually have travelled!
I had spent too much time,money and energy in getting to this point and I was not going to let this split in the group spoil my holiday! luckily, a few others felt the same as I did and Lacchi gave the group time till that evening to decide if the trip should continue.
The incident left a sour taste in the mouth, but I was determined not to let it spoil what was to be one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We walked on and a few kilometers down the road, we reached the campsite at Phanji-La where the porters had reached ahead of us and had begun to set up camp. Once we washed up and had coffee and snacks ( we truly were a pampered lot). We brought out the frisbee and started tossing it around, taking care not to throw it into the portable potty! Somewhere in the background, a goat decided to take matters into its own hands (horns) and enter the tents. we quickly shooed it away and continued with our game.
When it became too dark to play, we retreated into the main tent where we played cards by kerosene lamps, candles and torches. Cards, dumb charades, antakshari and general gossip was the only evening past time that we had for the next few days and I for one, did not miss TV one bit !
The cooks made dinner for us and I as much as I could possibly shove down. The bad food did not account for the lack of appetite... it felt as if I hadn't completely acclimatized yet and altitude sickness had some lingering effects. Also somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that input = output and any intake of food would mean subsequent output and usage of mountain money. Over the next few days, I learned how to be a very very efficient machine, burning up almost all the food during the hike.
The post dinner session brought back the issue of continuing from thereon and a poll was taken as to who wanted to continue and who didn't. I have never understood the idea behind all the scheming, back biting and deal making in reality shows like Survivor and Amazing Race, but this one instance when people were making cases for themselves and means to seek the ends they wanted was fun and quite an eye opener! I stuck to my guns that the I wanted to continue with the trip and we had enough of a quorum to go ahead with the trek, with the option that who ever wanted to opt out, could turn back and head to Leh, but no refund will be made for having hired the guides, porters and equipment for 6 days. Faced with having to dish out extra money (journey to leh +extra days in hotel+food) , the people who wanted to change plans, decided to go ahead with the trip.
To clear my head and put all this nonsense behind me, I took a walk with Prashant and Vivek along the road. The deafening silence was only broken by the rush of the river in the gorge below. By the dim starlight, you could see the sparse patches of vegetation dark offset against the light brown/khaki background of the mountain side.
That night, we made the decision to sleep under the stars and we arranged for a ground cloth to be laid out and we pulled out the sleeping bags. I must have spent hours just gazing at sky, but after a while, I had to retreat under the tent. I do not remember if it was because it was cold, becasue of bugs or if it started drizzling. The fact was I went back in, and now I wish I had spent the whole night outside! I put up with the snoring in the tents around us and slept blissfully till dawn, awaiting the rest of our journey.
Trampled byY Trip at Saturday, March 28, 2009 2 comments
Part 7. The Road to the Long March
The morning ride took us through mountain side beautiful not despite its barrenness, but because of it. The various hues of greys ,browns, blacks and even purples made up the dramatic scenery all around us. A couple of hours out, we came upon the confluence of the Indus and the Zanskar close to Nimoo. The difference in colours was really apparent as the Zanskar brought down a lot silt and mud as it cut its way through deep gorges on its way down stream.
Far down by riverside a film crew had set up camp and we made our guesses as to who the actors were down there throwing tantrums. After a few photo opps we decided to move on and face the rest of the trip. We descended to Numi(?) where we picked up a few bottles of overpriced mineral water of dubious origins. Water was a concern as everyone of us were pampered city brats who drank bottled water. We had made extensive plans to conserve water through the trip, drinking when necessary and being willing to pay Rs. 25-50 for a 10 rupee bottle. But, as we were to discover in due course, bottled water was not at all necessary right through the trek.
After a quick lunch (yucky dal chaawal )at a roadside stop under some shade, we proceeded to Alchi gompa (monastery) set besides the Indus and a beautiful apricot orchard which was just beginning to ripen. Although there were plenty of other tourists, the setting was really peaceful and I could have spent the rest of the day lying down on a rock under the shade and listening to the river run below us
We set off for Lamayuru and arrived at our campsite to see that the tent had been set up and we enjoyed a hearty snack, followed by rounds of frisbee and a quick hike to the Gompa at Lamayuru
(Pic Courtesy Lacchi)
We snuggled in to the tents after dinner, where the cook managed to whip up some cake and roti and fruits. We walked around along the road near the campsite as we pondered what lies ahead. We stopped by at a shop to listen to the shopkeepers radio for the latest news.
At that moment, then and there, time did not matter.. news did not matter. No one cared for performance reviews or managers or deadlines. No body bothered about work. We were among simple people who lived their simple ways and for a brief period of time, we attempted to be simple folk.
The next morning, we woke up early to get to the outhouse to attend to call of nature. Now, you might wonder where did this come from.... the porters who came along with us dug a hole in the ground and erected a small tent around it to provide for privacy. As can be imagined, if 15 people use the hole, it fills up pretty fast and becomes really really yucky... I learned my lesson and vowed to find my own corner of the world and do my business.
Trampled byY Trip at Saturday, March 28, 2009 0 comments
Part 6. The land of High Passes
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A good night's rest followed our arduous journey and we decided to do our rounds of the city of Leh. Tibetan cultural icons surrounded us and it was like a different country altogether. like most tourst places, Leh's economy is entirely on the short tourist season from late May to early September. During the rest of the year, it is too uncomfortable for touristy activities cut off from the rest of the world by road. During this time, the only access the town has is the tiny airport which is smaller than the Shivajinagar bus stop in Bangalore.
Leh in peak season, takes on a cosmopolitan hue with tourists and backpackers from all around the world thronging the narrow streets and filling up the market place and hiking up prices for the rest of us. The Great Indian Family Holiday was quite conspicuous by its absence and it looked like we were one of the few Indians who dared to venture into this corner of our country.
The shops were filled with Ladakhi and Tibetan handicrafts, woolens, knitwear, used books (I guess lots of people dispose of their books), more German bakeries, parantha places, exorbitantly priced sweet tea and some more handicraft stores.
Lacchi decides that we've had enough fun and takes us on an acclimatisation walk up to the Leh Palace, built in the 1600s and to this day, dominates the old city. Its an old mud structure and benevolently looks down upon the city. We trudge through small bylanes of the old city and through the doors, little eyes peeked out. The overall feeling was that we had walked back in time and were back in the 17th century.
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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 |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
One can only marvel at the mud structure that has lasted through the centuries. As I walked through the rooms and saw the straw roofs that sheltered Ladakhi kings over the years, I couldn't help but wonder at how they managed to build a city in such a desolate and extreme environment. The cool interiors of the palace gave us some much needed respite form the scorching sun and the fact that we didn't can carry enough water for this trip didn't help one bit. The extensive rooms were slightly dilapidated with stairs crumbling beneath our feet and
overhead beams threatened to crash down upon us. Walking through the musty smelling corridors brought us to a room that was being renovated by Kashmiri artisans who said that they came from Srinagar and had just a few weeks left before they went back before it gets cold.
Once we trudged back down to the city, we ate lunch at at vegetarian Tibetan restaurant which had "Free Tibet" flags all over. The food was filling and we went on our way to explore the market place and make phone calls. I go around a bit and see this guy who looked like he was a southie.
Very tenuously, I ask him "ഇവടെ വല്ലേ Phone booth ഉണ്ടോ ?" ( Are there any phone booths here.. in Malayalam ...excuse my spellings..) And to my surprise he responds in the affirmative in Malayalam and points me down the road and says that its right next to the Kerala Ayurveda Center, which happens to be owned by his brother. I get talking to him and he tells me that he and his cronies come to Leh every year for 5 months to run the ayurveda center giving the traditional ayurveda massages to tired trekkers then get back to Kerala and run a beach resort near Trivandrum from November to February.
This reminded me of the Garhwali owner of the restaurant in Varkala (in Kerala) beach who heads to Haridwar in the summer running a lodge and to Kerala in the winter running the restaurant. Two towns, both highly dependent on a floating population for its income, migrant population for its work force and whose economy rests solely on 4-5 months of hectic activity by back packers, wannabe hippies and the like. Two towns seperated by more than 4000km, but having the same reason for existence - Being the playground for the rich, the vagrant, the wanderer and the wonderer.
The evening saw us hunting for some spare woolens and hats which we had either forgotten to pick up or had lost on the way and in the process, managed to embarrass ourselves by being atrociously bad bargainers. Following dinner at a German cafe in candle light ( the whole region has very erratic power supply) , we marched back to our rooms, in cool evening with the vapour forming as we spoke in hushed tones in the darkness.
Some of us decided to climb a rickety old ladder and get to the terrace of the hotel . As you looked up, you could see literally millions of pin-points of light, a scene which I do not think have ever seen before. You could actually look at the milky way, a band of light across the skies. The scenery was absolutely ethereal and you could make out features on the nearbye mountains just from the light of the stars. Occasionally, a shooting star would zip past and quietly, we would asked each other " Did you see that ?" and we would reply in the affirmative even if we didn't. But we did not mind. It was heaven to just be there in the cool outdoors and sound of the breeze in the poplar trees that surrounded the one storey building. Sleep came soon at the end of eventful day and we prepared for the following day as the real journey was yet to come.
Trampled byY Trip at Sunday, September 07, 2008 0 comments
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 0 comments
