Wow, about a month has passed since my last post and I can hardly believe that my time here in India is almost over.
With my flight looming over my head on the 1st of July I have mixed feelings about leaving this place. There is still so much to see and do here in this massive country, but I have a great excuse to come back and visit.
After another 2 day bus journey I have landed back in Vashisht near Minali in Himanchal Pradesh. It is a relief to be back amongst the trees and nature of this place. Leh proved to be such a strange and lunar landscape. After spending a month there and taking various side trips I have a couple stories to share…
When I first arrived in Leh it was like a ghost town. Elections were in full swing and the town came to a grinding holt. Basically all the shops were closed and there were no tourists. Now this is quite hard to imagine happening in India, but it did. A river feeds this enormous valley and greenness extends to the foot of gripping mountain peaks. Contrast is the key word to hold onto here. My first segment was spent relaxing and watching the town slowly grow with each new tourist. After long it was obvious that I had to get out and do something productive. One friend of mine had done some trekking and loved it and after a few stories from her I was sold on the idea. Well in the end we really did find the best price in town at 25 dollars per day. Now this included: 5 horses, 1 guide, 2 helpers, all camping gear, and tons of food. With four people now roped in for this trek we were off, or at least I thought we were. I had been in contact with the head of the tour office and he was still unpaid by one in the group. Having just met the woman I did not know what to do. Luckily I ran into her at in a shop the night before our scheduled departure. Here she was shopping and no one had seen her for like 2 days. “What are you doing!?” I asked with much enthusiasm. She was caught like a deer in the head lights. Planning just to blow off the entire thing and never actually face any of us she had nothing to say. Apparently she had not been feeling well and was not confident enough to come with us. “Maybe you could have told someone in the last couple days and by the way you know you signed a contract agreeing to pay the full amount no matter what happens, right?” The conversation continued and she eventually agreed to go and try to fix things with the travel agent. Well we found out the next morning that she had done more harm than good and it was going to be a huge hassle for the owner to try and extract money from this crazy woman. So he sent us off into the new day and to say the least we were a bit shaken by this entire situation. Soon enough everyone was put at ease by our guide, Sichou. Standing about 5’5” and brandishing a golden tooth in the top front row of his teeth he appeared to be aged to perfection. Deep eyes and a wrinkled hard worn face spoke volumes of his life. Quite proficient in English, he had been doing this job for 23 years. Slowly he and the helper lead us into the blazing hot sun through and endless desert like landscape flanked by mountains and a beautiful azul river, the Indus. After about 5 hours of hiking we set up camp at a small oasis nestled in a little valley. Now after spending most of day hiking through plant deprived soil it was quite strange to have our camp be so fertile and green. A family lived nearby and had tamed the water and grown quite the assortment of foliage. Trees, flowers, grass everything was here and seemed so out of place. Ahhhh….
Breakfast and dinner were prepared every day by the guide and lunch was packed for us. Over the ten days we had quite a variety of food and we all agreed at the end that we could not have made food any tastier given the conditions. A typical day involved around 4 to 6 hours of trekking and an hour for lunch. Most nights were spent keeping warm in the main teepee made from an old parachute and drinking loads of chai. Luckily our tour company outfitted us with proper gear for the cold nights and my big puffy down sleeping bag never let me down. My two trekking buds were Jo and Inbal. Jo, from England, I had met in Minali and had been hanging with her for some time before the trip so we shared a tent. Inbal, from Israel, I had just known for a day or two. For the most part the three of us got along great and the trek was made that much better by their presence. Many days were quite challenging, but my spirits remained high throughout thanks to the beautiful scenery. Mountains upon mountains stretched as far as the eye could see. Green valleys surprised me when things seemed like they could not get any more barren. Colored rocks and Quarts decorated the many footpaths. Aqua blue and deep burgundy steaks of color randomly appeared upon cliff faces. Pretty much every 30 minutes of walking provided an entirely new palate of eye candy.
The most trying day was an ascent to 5,300 meters or about 17,000 feet. Oxygen at this height is quite scarce and I could most definitely feel lungs working at their top rate. Buddhist prayer flags greeted my arrival while faintly sending “Om Mani Padme Hum” out onto the winds whipping blow. I gave myself some quite time here and took in the amazing views my altitude afforded. Quite a long steep downward trek wore on the knees and I was so excited to see camp and drink chai that afternoon. By the last couple days of the trek I was going into robot mode. My mind would clear and the only thing that mattered was the next step. What an escape! Our last day at camp was spent thanking all of our help the horses, Sichou and the guides’ dog, Boobie. We even got to treat him to dinner in Leh one night which he was so grateful for.
All in all, the trek through Markha Valley was a life changing experience for me. Never have I been in such a remote place so far away from phones and internet. I saw many things that will stay by my side and many others that I could never truly express to you all. I have never been so consistently pushed physically and mentally. I thank Sichou for inspiring me to get more involved in these types of trips when I return to the States.
After several days of recuperation in Leh I hopped on a bus and here I am back in Vashisht…
