10th August: It was a good morning as it I could get up leisurely and get ready. We packed all luggages and kept in the guest house’s cloak room. (There were barely two big backpacks technically.)
Today, I was well prepared with motion sickness tablet. We set ourselves in the SUV and picked up 2 Austrian girls Viktoria and Christa. They were on long vacation to India. We withdrew some money as we did not have any bookings made at the Nubra Valley.
Our driver Dorje was a middle aged man, who claimed to be an ex-army. Jolly good fellow. He was fun to chat and seemed to be experienced as he knew how to handle 4 girls.
Khardung La is barely 40 km from Leh. And most of the road to Khardung La overlooks Leh city.
Shanti Stupa looked glorious in soft sunlight. Now, we were gaining altitude rapidly and I was haunted by the memories of Kargil war and Formula One car at Khardung La. Every time, we drove past the Army Officers, a feeling of regret, shame and pride kept revolving in my heart. Today, there was a war between a patriot and a F1 fan. I am glad to say, the patriot won.
When we reached Khardung La, I didn’t feel much of AMS but was overwhelmed to see the Army officers. We offered them some toffees… And I was crying. The officer kept saying, just pray for us. The conditions are hostile in every possible way. They are placed far far away from the families in the fierce Himalayas where the air is thin, the weather is harsh, and the bunkers are make shift arrangement to suit the weather. And more importantly, you don’t know who is friend and who is foe. There could be an attack any time… I was proud of them, but same time, I was ashamed of the scenes that we all put up back home. The ego clashes, the money wars, the power wars, the dirty face of politics. Tears kept rolling down for next 10 minutes. (I would disagree that it was AMS since it happens every time I see an army officer, even at sea level.)
Later we all got some good number of shots taken. Obviously with the Famous Hoarding of Khardung La. Then it was time to move. Soon we arrived in the village of North Pullu. We all were hungry, had few momos and tea, and the journey continued.
Now it was early afternoon, and I was sick of being the car for long time, for so many days… I was probably getting homesick as in I was perhaps missing my dog.
We drove past Sumur village; the Sumur Monastery was sitting halfway on a mountain on right side. Dorje said, “We go there on our way back.” OK!
So the first stop was Panamik Hot Water Springs. I had lost almost all of my enthusiasm and just dragged myself to the springs. The view wasn’t great. The place is not littered but looked dirty in the first look. A few minutes later, I realized, it was all Sulphur that was giving this dirty look to the springs. The girls soaked their feet in the water for few minutes. The Women Allianz of Ladakh has constructed a bathing complex. This modern day “Panamik Bath” is a clean complex yet failed to appeal my low mood. Few clicks and we moved.
Now the Sumur Monastery. They had a long staircase and huge open area. There are 3 main parts of the Samstenling monastery, Sakhyamuni Temple (Dukhang), Mahakal Temple and Maitreya Temple. They also have an apricot tree which was overflowing with apricots. Monasteries give me power to persist. I realized that I hadn’t meditated even once from the time I had come to Leh. I was surprised and angry with myself. Having taken life lessons of Buddhism, I let go of anger in few moments and returned to the present quickly.
Now, back in the car, we asked Dorje, where next? He said, now we go to Hunder. The sand dunes, the Bactrian camels, the tallest Maitreya on the way. It was time to get excited…
We drove back for some distance… Then I realized we were about to cross Nubra River and get to the opposite bank. Thanking the lowering number of my grey cells, I looked out of window. The Basin of Nubra River is a wide area of few kilometers and runs along the river. It was a spectacular view.
Soon, we passed by the Tallest Maitreya Statue of Diskit and couple of kilometers ahead of this, the desert started. Prajakta asked Dorje to stop right there and took a few snaps.
We urged her to leave fast so that we could reach for the camel safari in time. Once at the parking lot, I saw Viktoria rolling a cigarette. My jaws dropped. I knew how a joint is rolled and it is all a hush-hush affair here in India. I was surprised with this openness. I turned to Prajakta and said in Marathi, we are finding a different place and these girls are staying at different and that’s final. And I started walking towards the herd of the camels. It was for the first time I was seeing a Bactrian camel. They look pretty friendly. After a vein bargain, we climbed our camels and went for quick 15 minute ride in the sand dunes. Later, some more clicks and we were about to return. And then this happened…
I had totally lost track of time and that was full moon’s day. The moon was rising from the East amidst some clouds and mountains… The view was beyond words… Absolutely mesmerizing! I didn’t want to move from there but it also started getting cold and I was bare feet as well. So chose to return.
On the way back to the cab, we again ran into the girls. I am not sure if Viktoria had read my face or my mind, but she explained me that it was a normal cigarette of a tobacco which was not much harmful. She even handed over the packet to me to see. I was relieved and when Dorje took us to Hotel Snow Leopard, we occupied rooms next to each other. The dinner was served by 8:30 pm and was really yummy. After a tummy full, we strolled around the garden of the hotel, chatted for a while and went to sleep.
11 August: It was a long peaceful night and I woke up at about 5:30. (So unlike me!)
I went out to the garden. The tree we had seen last night was full of small unripe Apples. This wasn’t the first time I had seen a apple tree with apples on still it but this definitely was first ever closer look. The apples were at the height of my shoulder. I was amazed. I returned to the room with a smile and found that Praj was still asleep. I too went back to bed for some time. When I woke up, Praj had already cleaned up. I freshened up fast and we went for breakfast.
The breakfast consisted of toasted Bread, butter, apricot jam, coffee, aloo paratha, omelets and cutlet. It was good enough to survive until late afternoon. We ate well, and checked out. At the time of check out, I again took my motion sickness tablet and realized that now we had ran out of the tablets.
We drove to Diskit Gompa. An old monastery with breathtaking view. The new constructed Maitreya statue embarks a landmark in an otherwise empty valley. Now, we were on our way back to Leh. With a quick stop at the restaurant at North Pullu we were back in Leh by 6 PM. The girls and we decided to have dinner at Woodlands. I and Praj went to the market for shopping. I was actually tired and bored and couldn’t find much enthusiasm to pick up anything. Hence, I went straight to the restaurant, grabbed a table and kept waiting for the 3 girls to arrive.
The girls came and we had some views exchanged on cultural aspects of both the countries over the dinner.
This was first time, Stanzin actually followed us to the restaurant to discuss next day’s trip to Tso Moriri. We had to keep Viktoria and Christi waiting to have a quick chat with him. So the next day’s trip was finalized to Tso Moriri. Soon dinner was done, exchanged contact information and greeted farewell before we rushed to Stanzin’s office.
Stanzin told us to be ready by 5 AM in order to be returned by 8 PM, so that we could catch the next day’s Bus for Manali. He said he would reserve the tickets for us. This bus also leaves at 5 AM from Leh. I wasn’t much excited about trip to Tso Moriri as I had ran out of tablets and also that I was a bit bored with this site seeing activity. It was happening like; we were going there, spending some half an hour, munching something and leaving. This is not my idea of travel. I would want to be on the banks of the lake for some good time. Just sit down and do nothing or watch the birds fly by or just feel the waves splashing on my feet. The reality was far from my dreams. Time constraint was a major issue here…
12 August: So we there we were, ready to leave by 6 AM in morning. Today, our co-passenger was a uncle from Kolkata.
With no motion sickness tablet, I was already low on my morale. Thankfully, Zulfibhai was our chauffeur cum guide for the day. We told him to take us to the military camp on the way near Upshi. This was the only possible place where we could have found the motion sickness tablet, and we did find it.
We had the breakfast at Karu at same place where we had breakfast when we had been to Pangong Tso. Same Aloo Paratha and tea.
With several check posts on the way, we drove past the shooting point of the bollywood movie “3 Idiots”. The major check post is at Mahe. I was about to take a snap but seeing the board of photography prohibited at the beginning of this bridge, I refrained.
Tso Moriri is at higher altitude than Pangong Tso. The scenic beauty on both sides of the road ahead of
Mahe Bridge was mesmerizing. We passed a village, and soon it was Tso Kar. During my homework, Google had failed to show any road leading to Tso Moriri although location of Tso Moriri was on map. We didn’t stop at Tso Kar and drove directly to Tso Moriri. There is no marked road to Tso Moriri post Tso Kar. It was fun off roading.
Zulfibhai was driving at his normal pace and we were in Karzok Village. Karzok is said to be one of the oldest settlements in the world. So this is the PLACE! Zulfi said we will come back later for food and Karzok Gompa.
So we kept going on (off road) the side of the lake until the uncle from Kolkata said let’s stop here. So we took a break. The color of water of this high altitude lake was mesmerizing blue. In spite of high altitude, the ecosystem has wider spectrum. Birds and reptiles of different species can be easily spotted.
We spent some half an hour by the lake and returned to Karzok village. The Karzok Gompa is a monastery worth a visit. The Fish shaped lock at the door, the receiving area and then the main prayer room (Dukhang). Walls of Dukhang have different painting dating back centuries. Thankas and the vajras, the singing bowls, drums… everything in its rightful place. It was quite peaceful here. A few clicks more and I moved out. The monk at the lower end of staircase told me to lock the monastery and leave the key in the lock. I didn’t get the logic but I did what he advised me to do.
There was a small eatery right next to the Monastery run by an old lady. She was friendly and her store was flowing with the all the items I hadn’t expected to see. The pen refills, tennis balls, tissue rolls, chocolates, Maggie, cold drinks, water bottles, diapers… It was a mini shopping mall at such a remote location.
We entered and were not sure what to eat… Maggie had become an obvious choice. I didn’t want to experiment with my otherwise motion sick tummy and avoided eating any local food she could offer. She served us with so much of love as if we were her long lost daughters. These people I tell you… I wonder how they could be so gentle and sweet to the strangers…
She also informed us that she offers Homestay too and pointed to a frame hanging on a pillar. There were certificates of recognition by J&K State Government and some hospitality course for arranging Homestays. She was fluently using English and Hindi for communication and also knew how to operate a mobile. The overall picture left a very positive impression on me. We bid her adieu and left for Leh. I drowned myself in sleep. Zulfibhai was feeling tired perhaps, he stopped near a fresh water spring and washed his face, smoked and got back to driving. We crossed Mahe. Now the actual road with turns and twists… All I wanted was just to get out of this place as soon as possible. But there was no escape. We reached Karu at about 7:45 PM. I wanted to pick up a few souvenirs for my friends. Zulfibhai said we will make it to market before some of the shops would close.
We reached Leh by 8:25 then the city traffic. He dropped me near Market area and they drove ahead. I sprinted through the market and picked up Apricot Jam, couple of T-shirts, a few more post cards, and a Vajra.
Then the last visit to Woodlands, I thanked Dhiraj – the server and the other guy for their hospitality and rushed to the guest house. Then last visit to Stanzin. And then this guy surprised me yet again… He had picked up the motion sickness tablets for us and informed that he was coming to drop us at the bus station next day morning. I was aghast with this gesture. He could have just passed on the tickets and said bye, but he chose to be more kind. This was unusual.
Both theses Stanzin brothers… They were some of the best people we met on this journey.
We went back to the guest house, had dinner, packed and slept.
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