Himalayan India

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Friday 13 June

We left Manali (1,926 m.) at 0900hrs, climbing past apple orchards & fields growing various crops before quickly reaching forrested area. We had to stop several times, once about an hour's wait, while they cleared the road of the landslides resulting from last night's rain. The road was very muddy in parts, rocky & narrow in many places & we had to drive through fast flowing water cascading across the road from the mountains above into the valley below. There were muliple hairpin bends & when the cloud cleared we could see the road snaking up the mountainside above & below us. As we climbed up we passed lots of bright yellow marsh mariglods & small purple Iris reticulata. As we got higher the flora changed to alpine flowers in yellow & pale purple in little meadows between the more sparsely growing trees. Finally the terrain became mainly rocks with glaciers & pockets of snow.

Eventually after 3 hours longer than the journey normally takes, we reached Rohtang Pass at 4196m but we could not see anything because of the cloud. Then I heard a bleeting sound & people calling & then out of the mist came a ghost-like processin of sheep & their shepherds.

As we started our descent on the other side of the pass the cloud lifted so we got some marvellous views of the mountains. We stopped at Kolsar for a passport check & some chai, before carrying on through a pretty valley where they grow a lot of cash crops, such as peas & seed potatoes which are sold all over India.

At last we reached Jispa (3,500m) where we are staying at the Hotel Ibex Jispa. The hotel is fairly basic but it has nice views of the Bhagha river & the mountains from our bedroom and the staff are friendly.


Saturday 14 June

Windy (it is always windy in the valley) but warm as we drove to Khangsar village, past lots of small fields with the local people tending their vegetables & past pretty meadows full of flowers, to visit the Fort or Palace which was the original home of the present Queen of Leh.

The Palace was rather dull looking from the outside as it is made from mud daube & the windows are all very small except for one large window surrounded by nice wood carving. However inside although very old, said to be 1000 years old, & dusty there were some intricate wood carvings & some nice paintings. We climbed various uneven & broken wooden stairs to reach an inner courtyard with more pretty carvings & then on into a Temple with several Thangkas & other paintings - all rather difficult to see because there was no power for the lighting. We climbed a further set of dangerous looking stairs to reach the roof where we were rewarded with great views of the valley & mountains.

We visited a new monastary on the way back to the hotel for a rest. We are finding that we are tiring more quickly because of the altitude.

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk amidst rumble of thunder & eventually a little rain. We went to Photang Monastary where 3 small boys unlocked the door so we could see inside. Walking further on we visited a shrine where our guide, Mr "T", burnt some junioer in one of the small fireplaces on either side of the entrance - a lovely smell. It is used during some of their services. Across the road was an ancient Juniper tree which was blessed by the Dalai Lama when he visited here in 1995.

As it was Russell's birthday, Mr "T" had asked the cook at the hotel to bake a cake, so after dinner the cake was brought out with candle burning & the staff joined us in singing "Happy Birthday" before we ate the delicious cake.

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