Julley from Leh

We embarked on a short trip – and as always it was an “almost” last minute planning. Last minute planning has its own toll in terms of cost but one gets to save quite a bit in terms of energy, time and anxiety of making things happen as per the plan. With my elder one waiting for her board results and my official customer events shifting dates – it was the only way to steal a quick holiday. I was to be in Delhi for an official trip on May 5^th and got my family join me there to proceed for the magnificent Leh – Ladakh holiday. This was the Day 0.

Day 1: We boarded a morning flight to Leh. Delhi Leh flight tickets are not exactly affordable. They did cost a bomb. We did manage to get 2 window seats in anticipation to catch the aerial glimpse of the huge Himalayas. Both the kids occupied the window seats and it was worth the view. On landing in Leh – we steered clear of the usual tourist place touts to find out the official way of getting a cab. We were assigned a modest 7 seater cab to take us to the hotel. 2 minutes into the ride – we were busy chatting with the cabbie – his name as we understood from his accent was Deewa. A 25 year old man who almost won my trust immediately. We learnt 2 Ladakhi words from him – Julley (meaning Namaste or more like the Hawaiian Aloha) and Khamzang ina (meaning how are you?). He too seemed to enjoy our company and was more than enthusiastic. He offered his cab services for the rest of our Leh trip and elaborately explained the cab system of Leh. He also advised us to stay indoors for the first day and get acclimatized to the altitude (3500m above sea level). Most of the travel content on the net had given us the same advice as well. After about 20 minutes we reached our guest house. It was not a huge hotel kind of infrastructure. It was a modest 9-10 rooms kind of home stay. It was right below the Leh Palace and the windows opened to Himalayas and the Shanthi Stupa. The land lady (could never grasp her name) was another kind and soft person, she showed us our rooms.

Sonu – my elder one and I were the rebel types. We are used to Ooty (2250m) so Leh did not actually pose that much of altitude challenge. We decided to leave the other 2 girls behind and stepped out to explore some local food in the local market. Walking to the market was a stroll in the park (it was downhill) but climbing back to the guest house was herculean. The last lap was only baby steps moving just few inches in every step to the amusement of local passersby. Rest of the afternoon was spend admiring the window view of snowcapped mountains. By the evening – we were ready for another outing and this time all four of us dared to step out with a intention of walking those 2 kms up-to Shanthi Stupa. We unfortunately lost our way and flagged a cab to take us to the Shanthi Stupa.

The cabbie did tell us the route we were going was very a tedious one with 300 tough steps to climb. He instead took us in a circuitous but motor-able road to the top. Shanthi stupa offers a beautiful view of the Leh town and surrounding areas. The Buddha statue in the Stupa makes up for all effort to reach there. We shot several pictures and tried to mediate in the temple nearby before our driver came searching for us to tell us that we are the only ones left and have to leave before it becomes very dark.

Back to the guest house – we discovered the fact that Leh is not connected by road to Srinagar or Manali for 6-7 months in a year and during those periods there are no vegetables or meat to eat. It is only Rice/ Chapati with dal. Period. Ordering for food became very easy with these limited choices. It was always 2 Rotis, 2 Bowls of Rice and 2 Bowls of Dal. Shobana was wise enough to carry some dry fruits and apples – which served as our snacks and time pass munching stuff. The temperature dropped to 0 and was expected to drop further to -2 deg C past mid night. We all crawled into out quilts and dozed off.

Day 2: Deewa was to pick us up at 9am. We were all set and left for what is called as local sightseeing. We drove for about 30 kms to reach the Sangam of two rivers Indus and Zanskar. It was a beautiful view from top of the mountain. It more looked like a painting done by some high schoolers. It was too good to be true. There was a greenish blue Indus river and the muddy looking Zanskar meeting at Sangam.

The Zanskar looked more ferocious and managed to color the river after the Sangam with its color. River rafting is an option that is available to Sangam, We choose the lamest of the three options. There was no getting wet in this option and it was ideal for family like ours. Given a chance – Sonu and I would have opted for something that is far more thrilling and adventurous. Janu's age was limitation for her to do something more wetty. The rafting experience was fantastic and it was fabulous to be in water and surrounded by snow mountains.

After the rafting, we began our return journey to Leh with key stops in between. One was the famous Gurudwara Pathar Sahib and other was the Indian Army’s Hall of fame. Good thing about the Gurudwara visit was - being a Sunday and there was huge presence of military personnel and lip smacking langar. We had read about the tea and boondi but a delicious meal was more than what we had thought of. I probably ate thrice my normal quota of food and as mark of gratitude – I decided to volunteer at the Gurudwara. All the girls too joined me and we were busy dry wiping the washed utensils. With Himalyan mountains for view, pleasant Punjabi religious songs to hear, cool breeze to feel, fresh air to breathe – it was 100% bliss.

Post the sewa and good food, we shamelessly did the tea and boondi as well. With no space left in the belly it was sheer will power that came to our rescue. The drive to “Hall of fame” was not a long one. The hall is more like a museum with some pictures and defense equipment seized from enemy during the various wars India has fought. Kargil is the only one that was in my living memory. Children did show some interest in this place and thus this activity lasted much longer than I thought it would. Coming out of this hall – there was some military grade fun staff for children – things like rope climbing and sliding etc. Kids enjoyed this. On our way back to Guest house – we asked Deewa to take us to some local joint which served butter tea and Momos. We did have some fresh butter tea but momos was still few weeks away as Leh was still awaiting its vegetable trucks from Srinagar.

Day 3: We were all set for our Nubra valley – Pangong trip. We had planned to leave by 6am. It is easy to resolve such timing when going to bed but executing that resolve at 5am at -1deg C is a bit challenging. We left at 7am. We were carrying a handy oxygen cylinder – that would be useful in emergencies. I was convinced this will never to be used but Deewa insisted. Immediately after leaving Leh – one could notice the climb, there were hair pin bends and gradual continuous climb. The already chill weather was gradually becoming even more chiller. A few kilometers later – we were super excited to see snow at arm’s length. Occasionally the vehicle will drive on ice and Deewa told us that he has chains ready and if it gets worse – he will chain the tyres to prevent skidding. After an hour or so – we reached Khardung la pass. The yellow board there announced this place to be 18380 ft (5602m above sea level). This is the highest I have ever been. The board also announces that this is the highest motorable road in the world. Wikipeida however disputes this and place the height at 5359m.

Even this would mean – this is the highest we have ever been on land. From Bangalore (950m) to Ooty (2250m) to Amarnath (3888m) to Khardung la(5359m) – made a nice comparison and memory jog. We met an army man there who picked the few Kannada and Tamil words I had uttered – to let us know that he is from Kolar and on duty there. He was very happy and  excited to meet someone from Bangalore and was equally excited to speak to us in Kannada. He told us that the temp was -15deg C. It began to snow and Deewa kept warning us that we might fall sick if we keep goofing around anymore. We took his fatherly advice seriously and huddled back into the car.

The descending road between Khardung la to Nubra valley was non-existent in many stretches. There are snow stretches – there are riverlets to be crossed. Mud roads. Guess roads. The cabbies follow each other and I guess the first one must be doing a ‘eenie meenie miney moe’. We were told that post August when most of the snow melts aways – there are several bikers who dare to ride up till this point. Must be out-of-the-world experience. Some of my Facebook friends have done that. The entire 6 hour journey is surrounded by mountains and a visual treat to nature lovers. The snow mountains sometimes resemble chocolate cake with vanllia ice cream on top and sometimes looks like a big tub of Vanilla ice cream with choco chips on it. Nature at its best. No wonder Himalaya are so intriguing.

We reached Nubra Valley almost at noon. Deewa drove us to the huge Buddha statue, we then choose to go to Diskit Gompa (Buddhist monastery). The explorer in us took us to the temple which was right at the top. It was not as easy as it appeared. Exhausted in the temple – one of the Lamas offered us some hot tea. It was a welcome drink and excuse to take some rest and relax. Sipping tea we enjoyed the view from the top.  

Nubra valley has nothing great to offer. It was the almost 6 hours Journey that was more memorable. We then drove to the sand dunes. To our utter dis-belief we were standing on sand dunes in a huge valley surrounded by snow mountains, this experience was mixed with excitement and curiosity. The kids wanted to ride the double humped camels. We too joined them and enjoyed the ride on these harmless beautiful creatures. School taught us camel’s body is designed to withstand the high temperatures and so these cute furry creatures left us dazzled.

We took a on the fly decision to stay in a tent (camp) rather than a concrete hotel. Deewa swung into action, made some phone calls and took us to one of his friends place. Thanks to Deewa we got a huge discount and free food. 

The camp owner and Deewa belong to the same village and this camp was in a remote end of Nubra valley and keen to have guests. The camp turned out to be a good decision, we did meet a big group of Mumbai tourists. We enjoyed the bon-fire with them, couple of drinks, good food, some family games (anthakshri and dumb charades). We also exchanged notes on our itineraries which helped them optimize their plan. Thanks to Deewa.

Day 4: it was another early day. Plan was to leave at 6am but we left at 7 and started our long journey to Pangong lake. We later learnt that there are 3 routes to do Nubra to Pangong and Deewa had driven us thro one of the least used roads. The road was most parts empty. It was terrifying at times to imagine we getting stranded and there is absolutely no help around. Non- BSNL phones do not work outside Leh. Stranded in middle of nowhere or Leaving family in the car to go searching for help was not the best thoughts to have. I decided not to waste time on such thoughts and instead live the moment and enjoy the drive. We had a river flowing in the opposite direction to us. This was the only company we had for several hours. At places there was absolutely no road, what could be easily passed off as a river bed or moon terrain was our road. It was very exciting when the car had to cross tiny riverlets – with maybe 6-8 inches of water flowing. After this few hours of total isolation we reached an army camp kind of place. At-least now we had fellow human beings to  feel safe. After a 6 hour drive – we reached Pangong by mid-day.

Pangong lake is much more beautiful than what we had seen the pictures and movies. The changing colors of the lake – the 50 shades of blue – as I like to call it – was simply magnificent. 

The lake is surrounded by snowcapped mountains, the weather is cool, almost pin drop silence but for some crazy tourists howling. We could not take our eyes of the lake. It is so beautiful that you can just sit there and keep admiring the beauty.

 Capitalizing on the ‘3 idoits’ movie – there is yellow scooter and the owner claims it is the same one used by Kareena (I did not believe him though). It costs 50 Rupees to just sit on it for a photo. There is also a poster alongside the scooter that keeps reminding tourists about the movie. There are Yaks that one can ride on. Kids tired the yaks while Shobana tried the scooter in a la Kareena style (I reminded her that nose will not obstruct but..). we decided to have lunch in one of those hotels facing the lake. Food was awful but the view was awesome and made up for all the not so good expensive food.

After less than 2 hours at the lake – we began another long journey towards Leh. Deewa told us it may take 5-6 hours. Enroute we saw Pashmina goats, Yaks, wild horses. After a couple of hours – the ascend started and with that there was snow all around. We managed to pluck some icicles from the car and kids enjoyed playing it. The ascend culminates in Chang la pass – which is about 5360m above sea level. This place was deserted and Deewa did not choose to utter anything interesting. He seemed to be hurry to reach Leh before it gets dark. We played ball with him and crossed Chang La without any photo or stop. After Chang la the road starts to descend and it is mostly a downhill till Leh. Enroute there were several beautiful scenery, the beauty is far better than what one can imagine for would have seen in post cards or movies. In my view the journey is as beautiful as the end destination was, if not better. Just before we could enter Leh – we spotted the Rancho school – we insisted to drive into the school though it was closed. We parked in the school campus and tried to spot the famous window of ‘3 Idoits’, we could not. We did some photos near the café – now called Rancho café and left for Leh.  We reached our guest house post it was dark and Janu ordered the food (same one) and we all crashed into our quilts.

Day 5: This was not the best moment of the trip. We had bid adieu to Leh. A place which we liked so much and seem to spend a long enjoyable time. Shopping was not completely complete. Does it ever get complete with 3 women around? We missed buying Buddhist prayer flag with “Om mani padme hum”, written on it. Along with Julley and Khamzang ina this is something that all of us learnt there. We also missed buying a Pashmina shawl. Deewa dropped us to the Airport and we were on time for the Delhi flight.

In Delhi, I took the girls to meetup with Sudha – my school class mate, whom I had last met in 1987. It was good thees saal baad reunion. Sudha and her husband were graceful hosts with plenty of food and warmth. Badagas are always known for their warmth towards guests. Sudha also an experienced Isha follower – I am a beginner and learned a few things from her. Sudha lives in Faridabad and the journey to the Airport feels like travelling to Bangalore Airport from home. A longish 40kms+ route. We hit our first big delay in the entire trip when the Del- BLR flight got delayed by over 2 hours. Well past mid –night we reached home and wishing each other Julley – we slipped into our beds.