Advertisement
Published: June 15th 2014
Edit Blog Post
I had refused to go to Leh as it was an arid desert in a remote corner when there were so many beautiful places to see in India. Incidentally, my manager cancelled my nomination for a training in Hyderabad which I so wanted to attend. Meanwhile, my friend was going to Leh and she invited me.I thought this trip would cheer me up. My leave was also easily sanctioned. Even my sister recommended this place. I decided it was destiny and happily tagged along.
I reached Delhi and spent the night with my 2 little nephews aged 3 and 6, trying to gun me down and I pleaded with them to save me! Save me please! The next morning, I was at the Delhi airport with the 20 odd women from 19 to 45 years young! The flight to Leh was short but just when the flight started I had a strange sensation of millions of bubbles bursting ever so lightly inside my body. It was very painful in an odd sort of way. My co passenger was worried. Then it dawned that I had taken diamox which was causing this extra burst of oxygen in my body. I struggled
for a good 20 minutes.
I remember coming out of the aeroplane. The sun was bright like strong tube light against the stark landscape of black and brown mountains surrounding us. The snow peaks far away seemed to greet you. Thankfully, the air was breathable at 3,505ms above sea level. We took the cabs and went to hotel- Spic and Span. I had a glass of hot milk and delicious biscuits while everyone helped themselves to tea and coffee. Then there was a major photo session with each clicking the other in the hotel courtyard. The typical wood carvings on the stone were very intricate.
In the evening, we visited Shanthi Stupa. It was good to meet Lord Buddha but it was so windy and cold. We had to remove our shoes and our socks touched the cold stones and made us feel really cold.
Next day, we went to Alchi Monastery built in 1048 A.D by Kanishka. The wooden structure was small but impressive. Ladies in their traditional attire had come to pray.
Following that, we went to Thiksey Monastery. The little monks at Thiksey were a delight to watch. It was the day in
the calendar year when they threw water at all passing vehicles and if your window was open, you were drenched! These little brats smiled so sweetly that we eagerly took out our cameras and position ourselves only to have the drivers warn us to pull up the windows quickly!
Meanwhile, I had decided to be extra brave and had taken local water (not boiled) and ended up suffering from dysentery. To add to this, I had a cold and kept sneezing so much that my poor room -mate could not sleep. I appealed to all Gods both Hindu and Buddhist to keep me fit for the long journey and camping to Pangong lake the next day!
The journey to Pangong lake via Changla was a visual delight. The mountains were shades of pastries including one of the green of pistachio. Then we passed through snow clad mountains. We spotted yaks which I felt were wearing long black skirts and their youngs were wearing mini-skirts! The Indus was like a young stream. We spotted wild horses, a fox and some birds.
Pangong lake is a 134km lake spreading across both India and Tibet. The place was surreal. A
long lake with the water changing colour from deep blue to brown surrounded by huge, grim mountains. We almost felt a dinosaur would come alive at night from just behind! At some places, I could visualize the Star Wars happening. The night was cold and windy and most of us shivered throughout the night. It was so cold that I decided to be very quick when I got up to switch off the light and it took me the next 10 mins to simply catch my breath. Indeed, I realized we take our breathing so much for granted! This was 4603 ms above sea level.
While returning to Leh, we toured the Hemis monastery, one of the richest in the region. The museum was fascinating indeed with many sliver bowls, huge cymbals and statues of Buddha and other deities.
The next day we set off for Nubra valley. I was awestruck by the beautiful mountains with touch of spring and simply stood spell bound. I was learning a lot of Buddhism from the guide. After a camp fire of dancing and drinking, I retired to read all about the Boddhisattava, Tara Devi, deities etc and slept peacefully.
While returning, we again passed through the silk route at Khardungla (5602 ms above sea level). However, this time there were snow and avalanches enroute. About 150 cars mostly tourist vehicles had got stuck. One of our cars got stuck between avalanches. The four passengers including my room- mate had to be accommodated in other cars. We were at Khardungla for 6-8 hours at sub zero temperature. Since I had rearranged suitcases at the back of our car, I was feeling tired. I said I was uneasy but the trip organizer was ill equipped to handle any emergencies. I was too tired to protest. Soon it got worse and I entered a stage between consciousness and unconsciousness. I even contemplated death but knew that even if I jumped the cliff I would not die because of the fresh snow. So, I sat quietly.
The military came and cleared the way. We descended to Leh. Once at the hotel, my room-mate got worried while I had been worried for her. Thankfully, she was given oxygen at Khardungla and was fine. After room service and exchange of experiences, I was still feeling restless. The hotel did not have any oxygen cylinder. My room- mate arranged to take me to Red Cross Hospital at 2 am in the night and I was given oxygen for an hour. It was only then that I slept.
The next morning was shopping day! We shopped beautiful soft pashmina shawls, masks, scarves, turquoise jewellery, t-shirts with funny quotes like “ I got Leh’d” with a fantastic map of Leh in front among other things. We had a lovely lunch at La Terrace of Tumkpa and chicken momos. In the evening, there was a nice cultural show. I found Ladakhi dances very delicate and gentle much like the people in this place.
I was happy to board the plane back to Delhi. My friend and I agreed that we had been survivors. The natural scenery was surreal but whether it was worth the pain and suffering; perhaps not. Understanding compassion and seeing the cute little monks have been the most delightful takeaways from this journey. It was destiny that I went and again I shall refuse to go!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb