Wrapping up Ladakh
Manali, Himchal Pradesh, India
So I had a bunch of entries ready for the end of Ladakh but am sort of condensing/scrapping them. Most of them were just laments about how incredibly bored I was (which is what happens when you reach the apex of an 8 day trek on day 4). Briefly - the highlights
-two days after climbing Stok Kangri, out of sheer boredom and truly just....because it was there....I climbed another mountain named Guleb Kangri. Although it was shorter (maybe only 18.5 k feet or so) It was a real pain in the ass to climb. It was mostly scree and slick, dangerous, ice so I climbed w/o equipment. I thought it was technically much more difficult than Stok because you have to cross a bunch of very dangerous, massive boulder fields on the way in and out and the ascent is a lot steeper and the descent is a bummer. About the only thing fun about it was a bit of free rock climbing at 17k feet, which, btw, is very dangerous and nobody should ever try at home including myself. I'm not sure if it was fatigue or just lack of motivation but climbing this guy was more like work than fun, and I took a lot of spills that thankfully I was able to survivie but could have turned ugly. So I think my high-altitude mountaineering days are done for now. At the end of the day I was completely exhausted after the 11 hour ordeal and near collapse at dinner in the kitchen tent (meals, btw, became their own ordeal of mass quantities of curry, lentls, and peas as time went on and became a real sore spot) and, in his charismatic way, Tsetan asked me "You tired?" to which I responded - "A little bit, do you watch a lot of Matlock or something?" in response to which Dashi was convulsed on the floor with laughter - some things are universal I guess.
-On the last night of a trek, there's usually a bit of a party. Ours was highlighted by a gathering around a pile of flaming bullshit - or techinically I think it was dzo-shit (cow/yak hybrid) since there's no wood. A bunch of locals joined us, so at first when they at me down near this fire surrounded by candles I thought they were going to do some weird local initiation ceremony. But it was actually just the standard "singalong" thing. Invariably attention was turned to me to sing along. I didn't have a lot of ideas but the good thing about this type of thing is that you can make up the words and they won't know the difference. I led with "you've lost that loving feelin", followed up with La Bamba (great for word making up), took a misguided yet inspired detour into "let me stand next to your fire" and then closed with the original Sargent Pepper, simply because I knew all the words. I was then presented with a cake which said in huge letters on it "HAPPY JOURNEY MAV TREK", which I graciously accepted
-On my final night in Leh, I booked a ride on the 2 AM jeep to Manali. As a consequence I stayed that evening as a guest in the Tsetan house - which he referred to as his "family home"and I think housed either his sister or sister in law and a bunch of kids. Dinner, of course, was mutton curry, and all sorts of other things I was forced to eat politely, as well as politely enduring a bunch of Boll-Leh-wood type VCD's put on for my entertainment which I alos endured politely. I was also given the guest bed of honor near the buddhist shrine room which unfortunately had its windows near some site of human waste, as are a lot of things here, but all in all a good show for Tsetan
-The Manali-Leh jeep trek itself along the world's 2nd highest motorable road, frequently described as one that can't be missed, should have been avoided at all costs. The scenery was nice but not that great considering the other stuff I've seen so far and not worth a 19.5 hour trip. Otherwise, the heinous road conditions (most unpleasant I've seen anyhere, and I've been in Nepal, Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc) and being crammed into a jeep with 8 other people are best skipped. Particularly so if the driver is on the floor next to you with some wierd stomach ailment and some Ladakhi kid we picked up on the side of the road is now driving, and if some androgynous middle aged dutch woman keeps stopping the jeep to vomit, inter alia.
So I had a bunch of entries ready for the end of Ladakh but am sort of condensing/scrapping them. Most of them were just laments about how incredibly bored I was (which is what happens when you reach the apex of an 8 day trek on day 4). Briefly - the highlights
-two days after climbing Stok Kangri, out of sheer boredom and truly just....because it was there....I climbed another mountain named Guleb Kangri. Although it was shorter (maybe only 18.5 k feet or so) It was a real pain in the ass to climb. It was mostly scree and slick, dangerous, ice so I climbed w/o equipment. I thought it was technically much more difficult than Stok because you have to cross a bunch of very dangerous, massive boulder fields on the way in and out and the ascent is a lot steeper and the descent is a bummer. About the only thing fun about it was a bit of free rock climbing at 17k feet, which, btw, is very dangerous and nobody should ever try at home including myself. I'm not sure if it was fatigue or just lack of motivation but climbing this guy was more like work than fun, and I took a lot of spills that thankfully I was able to survivie but could have turned ugly. So I think my high-altitude mountaineering days are done for now. At the end of the day I was completely exhausted after the 11 hour ordeal and near collapse at dinner in the kitchen tent (meals, btw, became their own ordeal of mass quantities of curry, lentls, and peas as time went on and became a real sore spot) and, in his charismatic way, Tsetan asked me "You tired?" to which I responded - "A little bit, do you watch a lot of Matlock or something?" in response to which Dashi was convulsed on the floor with laughter - some things are universal I guess.
-On the last night of a trek, there's usually a bit of a party. Ours was highlighted by a gathering around a pile of flaming bullshit - or techinically I think it was dzo-shit (cow/yak hybrid) since there's no wood. A bunch of locals joined us, so at first when they at me down near this fire surrounded by candles I thought they were going to do some weird local initiation ceremony. But it was actually just the standard "singalong" thing. Invariably attention was turned to me to sing along. I didn't have a lot of ideas but the good thing about this type of thing is that you can make up the words and they won't know the difference. I led with "you've lost that loving feelin", followed up with La Bamba (great for word making up), took a misguided yet inspired detour into "let me stand next to your fire" and then closed with the original Sargent Pepper, simply because I knew all the words. I was then presented with a cake which said in huge letters on it "HAPPY JOURNEY MAV TREK", which I graciously accepted
-On my final night in Leh, I booked a ride on the 2 AM jeep to Manali. As a consequence I stayed that evening as a guest in the Tsetan house - which he referred to as his "family home"and I think housed either his sister or sister in law and a bunch of kids. Dinner, of course, was mutton curry, and all sorts of other things I was forced to eat politely, as well as politely enduring a bunch of Boll-Leh-wood type VCD's put on for my entertainment which I alos endured politely. I was also given the guest bed of honor near the buddhist shrine room which unfortunately had its windows near some site of human waste, as are a lot of things here, but all in all a good show for Tsetan
-The Manali-Leh jeep trek itself along the world's 2nd highest motorable road, frequently described as one that can't be missed, should have been avoided at all costs. The scenery was nice but not that great considering the other stuff I've seen so far and not worth a 19.5 hour trip. Otherwise, the heinous road conditions (most unpleasant I've seen anyhere, and I've been in Nepal, Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc) and being crammed into a jeep with 8 other people are best skipped. Particularly so if the driver is on the floor next to you with some wierd stomach ailment and some Ladakhi kid we picked up on the side of the road is now driving, and if some androgynous middle aged dutch woman keeps stopping the jeep to vomit, inter alia.
posted by Miguel V | 1:31 PM
3 Comments:
Ladakh is always a great point for the adventure lovers. I have also visited here once from Chennai in 2015.
Pune to kullu manali for honymoon trip please visit honeymoon packages from pune
Trekking is one of the most endured activities in the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan region. You get to meet new people that keep you company while you trek the moutains. honeymoon tour
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