Our 10 day trek started out easy. Kristi, Sophie (our soon to be good friend from France) Tserring (our guide) Bobbi (our cook) Driver-ji (Our driver)and myself in the jeep. We headed out to a little town where the Dalai Lama lives when he is in town. It was His Holinesses birthday and there was a big celebration. We took a tour of HH's house, watched some dancing and toured a temple. Afterwards we headed out to Rumtse where our trek was to start and set up camp to wait for our ponies and Pony Man.
The next day started the way the rest were to start, with a "Good morning!" from outside our tent at 7am, and Tserring opening the tent to give us our "bed tea." We would then pack up, have a huge breakfast served to us, and head out with our lunch boxes for the day.
We covered over 160kms and hiked through 5 mountian passes, our highest being 5500m! We never never dropped below 4400m and we felt it. While walking up hill I was panting and my heart was racing like I had been running for hours and when I would look down at my feet I would see one foot slowly moving to take a small step in front of the other.
We would usually arrive at camp sometime between 1 and 3pm. Bobbie and Pony Man would have already made it there and would be waiting for us with chai and bisquits. Our afternoons would usually be spent lying around reading, journaling or sleeping. Sometimes we would also have language lessons with Sophie teaching us French and Tserring and Bobbie teaching us Ladakhi and Hindi. Tserring chose his own phrases he thought would be useful for me to know:
"Where is the bus station?"
"Give me your hat."
"I love you" and "Would you like to marry me?"
The only one I can remember is "Give me your hat." and I have yet to find a use for it.
Everynight Bobbie served us copious amounts of food ensuring our bodies did not get any weight loss benefits from our day hiking.
I really don't have the vocabulary to describe our incredible surroundings. Everyday/hour was different and on some of the mountain passess I felt like my mom, (sorry mom) I would get teary because it was so beautiful. You could see snow-capped mountains for miles in every direction. Between the passes we hiked in nomads land of big green valleys. We didn't run into any villages but did see some herds of yaks and goats, lots of marmets and pica, some wild ass and two wolves.
The last day we arrived at a little village on Tsomoriri lake. We stayed one extra day to see the nomads come in for the festival at the Buddhist monestary. The last day was spent driving all the way back to Leh.
Overall the trek was one of the highest points (pun intended) of my trip. We felt like a little family by the end and only the thoughts of a shower, soft bed and possibly a full breathe of oxygen filled air lured us back to Leh.
We didn't stay long though. After giving ourselves one day off Kristi and I were eager to fit in one more trek. We mistakenly thought the trek made us strong, not tired us out. And decided to do a 4 day trek in 2 days without a guide.
On day one we some how missed the last stop for drinking water and got completely dehydrated before finding a relatively clean stream to refill on water (totally worth carrying around the chlorine drops for 5 months)
After 8 hours of hiking up hill I thought I was going to collapse (actually I felt this way from hour 5 on) I have new sympathy for anyone that I have ever hiked or ran with who told me they could not go on. If you felt the way I did that day I am so sorry.
We made it to the idyllic village of Rumback and it made the day worth it. It felt like we were in a some magical village straight out of "Lord of the Rings." It was surrounded by huge rocky mountains and in a little valley with only a few fields of their own crops. The village had 67 people living there and 9 homes. All 9 houses were set up as "home-stay" options for trekkers.
We spent the night with a lovely Ladakhi family that spoke little English. It was a very cool brick home where we had dinner with the family and I mainly slept the whole time we were there and didn't even have the energy to take pictures. We were both so overwhlemed that we had the chance to experience staying there.
The next morning we filled up on water and electrolights and managed to make it 3 hours and 1100m's up top to the pass which, once again, too amazing for words blah blah blah.....
I felt completely on a high, partially from the beauty and partially from knowing I only had down-hill to hike from then on.
After 5 hours of hiking down we arrived at a little Ladakhi village where the women were having a big water fight. Filthy dirty we got a taxi home and walked straight into a Tibetan restaurant for some Momo soup after which I finally felt normal again.
The next few days the only exercise we got was shopping and visiting with all our friends around town (Mainly shopkeepers and the guys from the German bakery.)
I had plans to continue on to Srinigar in Kashmir but there have been some terrorist attacks and the city has been under curfew for weeks. Even though people insisted it was safe for tourists there was a possibility I could get stuck there so I decided against it. Despite my raving about the drive to Leh from Manali I was not eager to repeat it. But as the "Leh-Manali" road was the only "safe" route from Leh I headed back to Manali. I had to say good-bye to Kristi (who was an AWESOME travel friend for over month) and headed out on the world's 2nd most dangerous highway (according to the people in the van you may may want to varify that fact yourself) for the 19 hour bumpy ride back to Manali.
I am now relaxing back at Dharma guesthouse where I stayed last time I was here. Very nice to be greeted by friendly faces returning. They even convinced me to stay an extra day which was not hard as I am not eager to do another overnight bus or deal with the hot monsoon-ridden India that awaits me.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
On Top of the World Looking Down on Creation
Kristi and I headed out of Manali at 200am (330am India time) on a 19 hour bus ride to Leh. The bus ride was the quintessential India experience. Basically it was one of the worst and the best experiences of my life. Any remote hopes of sleeping on the mini bus were dashed seconds after the van careened down the road swerving back and forth, I can only assume testing the weight of the bus. The next 19 hours were constant swerving on narrow mountain roads where if you attempted for a second to rest your head, the bus would laugh at you and push you right out of your seat and slam your head back leaving you with a slight whiplash sensation. Most of the hours were spent gripping the bar in front of you trying to stay seated. Gasping for thin air (literally at that altitude) but mainly getting dust or exhaust from the bus in front of us.
That, for those who couldn't guess, was the worst part of the trip. The best part was that while clutching your seat, the bus passed through about 4 or 5 mountain passes all between 5000m and 5500m high. As the sun was rising you felt you were literally driving on the top of the world and you could see for miles.
The geography changed every hour. The bus would work its way down from snowy mountain passes to pastures with nomads herding their sheep, back up through mountain deserts and rock formations that looked straight out of "Star Wars." At times you could look back at what looked like a sheer rock face and see the thin line of the road that you just drove on. Then we would be driving on a high plain and it felt like you were in a cross country race as the busses (we were carvanning) would drive as fast s possible aross the dusty plain till they started on a windy "road" again. It was by far the most spectacular scenery I have ever come across.
The Ladahk valley feels like a completely different country. Leh itself is a large town but it is actually quite relaxed. It is more Buddhist then Hindu, and there are monks and temples everywhere. The town is surrounded on all directions by rocky, snow-capped mountains. Leh itself is 3500m and most treks go higher then that so you are suppossed to give yourself some time to acclimatize. Kristi and I have had no problem spending our days "preparing" for our treks. This has consisted mainly of us buying a lot of great quality knock-off out gear for super cheap. Everyone here is so proud it comes straight from China. Between all the amazing Tibet handicarft markets, outdoor gear shopping and sampling as much yummy Nepali food as possible we have managed to keep ourselves quite busy.
Of course it hasn't all been easy. We did have the stress of deciding what treks we wanted to do. We have decided on a 10 day trek that leaves on the 6th and ends at a nomadic festival. Very excited to see what we have gotten ourselves into!
That, for those who couldn't guess, was the worst part of the trip. The best part was that while clutching your seat, the bus passed through about 4 or 5 mountain passes all between 5000m and 5500m high. As the sun was rising you felt you were literally driving on the top of the world and you could see for miles.
The geography changed every hour. The bus would work its way down from snowy mountain passes to pastures with nomads herding their sheep, back up through mountain deserts and rock formations that looked straight out of "Star Wars." At times you could look back at what looked like a sheer rock face and see the thin line of the road that you just drove on. Then we would be driving on a high plain and it felt like you were in a cross country race as the busses (we were carvanning) would drive as fast s possible aross the dusty plain till they started on a windy "road" again. It was by far the most spectacular scenery I have ever come across.
The Ladahk valley feels like a completely different country. Leh itself is a large town but it is actually quite relaxed. It is more Buddhist then Hindu, and there are monks and temples everywhere. The town is surrounded on all directions by rocky, snow-capped mountains. Leh itself is 3500m and most treks go higher then that so you are suppossed to give yourself some time to acclimatize. Kristi and I have had no problem spending our days "preparing" for our treks. This has consisted mainly of us buying a lot of great quality knock-off out gear for super cheap. Everyone here is so proud it comes straight from China. Between all the amazing Tibet handicarft markets, outdoor gear shopping and sampling as much yummy Nepali food as possible we have managed to keep ourselves quite busy.
Of course it hasn't all been easy. We did have the stress of deciding what treks we wanted to do. We have decided on a 10 day trek that leaves on the 6th and ends at a nomadic festival. Very excited to see what we have gotten ourselves into!
Yodi Goes Yogi
In an attempt to get some kind of level of fitness back I took the 2 hour yoga class at the hotel. 20 mintues in I was sweating and all tied up in ropes, and not having fun. I found out later that all the students were in the yoga teachers training program. So the next day when I dragged Stewart and Nicola down they were all gone and we had a beginners yoga class that was great.
The days all kind of blur together as we fell into a little routine on yoga in the morning, some kind of walk or hike in the afternoon and then would sit and drink on our balcony over looking the mountains. Nicola and I especially needed the relaxing as our faces had been marred by the high altitude sun. Nicola's lips blistered up and my nose took the honour, it was very attractive. Kristi, a friend I had met in Rishikesh, came up to join us and we had a few days with the 4 of us before we sadly had to say good-bye to Stewart and Nicola.
I was really giving the yoga thing great effort but when Kristi ( a former gymnist) joined the class he seemed to make it harder. On the last day he had Kristi doing hand stands while me, with 2 herniated discs in my back and a shoulder injury from doing "downward dog" improperly, was desperately trying to keep my sit bones on my heels while stretching my arms on the ground. We both got in trouble for laughing when I pointed out to Kristi (upside down beside me) that I couldn't help but notice my adaptation of the pose was quite different then hers. Thus ended my yoga career.
The days all kind of blur together as we fell into a little routine on yoga in the morning, some kind of walk or hike in the afternoon and then would sit and drink on our balcony over looking the mountains. Nicola and I especially needed the relaxing as our faces had been marred by the high altitude sun. Nicola's lips blistered up and my nose took the honour, it was very attractive. Kristi, a friend I had met in Rishikesh, came up to join us and we had a few days with the 4 of us before we sadly had to say good-bye to Stewart and Nicola.
I was really giving the yoga thing great effort but when Kristi ( a former gymnist) joined the class he seemed to make it harder. On the last day he had Kristi doing hand stands while me, with 2 herniated discs in my back and a shoulder injury from doing "downward dog" improperly, was desperately trying to keep my sit bones on my heels while stretching my arms on the ground. We both got in trouble for laughing when I pointed out to Kristi (upside down beside me) that I couldn't help but notice my adaptation of the pose was quite different then hers. Thus ended my yoga career.
Manali Mountain Madness
As we were surrounded by an amazing mountain range Stewart, Nicola and I decided to do a 3 day trek. All we knew was that we had a guide, and food and supplies were provided. When we headed out we discovered we had a guide, a cook, and 3 porters who carried massive loads on a rope strapped around their forehead. The hike was all up hill and starting at 3300m felt hard, but when we arrived at camp we felt quite lazy as the porters carrying 5x the weight we were, had made it to camp and set up the tents already. So all we could do was relax enjoy the scenery, play cards, finish the rum and eat the copious amounts of food the cook prepared for us. So much for a healthy day of hiking.
Unbeknownst to even our guide there was more snow on the mountains then expected. The second day we hiked 6 out of 7 hours in the snow without proper equipment. The views from 4400m were spectacular but slightly numbed by the frozen feet. By hour 5 I was quite sick of falling on my face or through the snow every few steps. We arrived at the "lake" the destination the trek was designed to reach, to see a nice pond covered in snow snapped a picture and begged our guide to get us out of the snow asap.
We were very happy to see our camp set up for us when we arrived that day (the porters took a different route) and fresh pakoras waiting for us. The next day was an easy hike down to our guest house where I was to spend the next 10 days...
Unbeknownst to even our guide there was more snow on the mountains then expected. The second day we hiked 6 out of 7 hours in the snow without proper equipment. The views from 4400m were spectacular but slightly numbed by the frozen feet. By hour 5 I was quite sick of falling on my face or through the snow every few steps. We arrived at the "lake" the destination the trek was designed to reach, to see a nice pond covered in snow snapped a picture and begged our guide to get us out of the snow asap.
We were very happy to see our camp set up for us when we arrived that day (the porters took a different route) and fresh pakoras waiting for us. The next day was an easy hike down to our guest house where I was to spend the next 10 days...
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