While walking around the main bazaar, a couple of days after reaching Leh, Dave says: "You know, with all these backpackers around, I wonder if we'll bump into anyone we know" ... well, this is the land where serendipity, fate and kismet actually work and about 5 minutes later, we bumped into Carlos, a Bulungula regular and Bridget, head of Eco-schools in South Africa. That was the beginning of many social lunches, teas and dinners we'd have in Leh during our 3 week stay. We used Leh as our base, stored most of our stuff at our guesthouse and explored the interesting and very beautiful mountainous region from there.
Hanging with other travellers at Shanti Stupa - the town of Leh is in the background
After a lot of aaauummmms and sun salutations at our medidation course, our first adventure was on a 5 day homestay trek in the Sham valley area, just west of Leh. The homestays are organised by the Snow Leopard Conservancy who have turned this natural home of the snow leopard into a tourist attraction and money earner for the villagers who were exterminating the leopards because of the threat to their livestock. A portion of the homestay earnings goes into a conservancy fund that provides insurance for any livestock lost to the snow leopards. In the 6 years since the programme began, the attitude towards snow leopards has changed markedly and their numbers have been growing.
Our first homestay was in the village of Ulley which has only 7 households and is situated at about 4200 metres above sea level. We planned to do some walking the following day (Rejane's birthday) but it snowed all day and we ended up huddled in the kitchen with the family eating traditional Ladakhi food, drinking lots of tea, playing cards and fooling around with the kids. We decided to stick to English tea after experimenting briefly with Tibetan butter tea, which is not a tea at all but a rich, salty, buttery soup that congeals in your cup as soon as it starts to cool. Trying to do the polite thing and gulping it down quickly is not much of a solution as it is Tibetan custom to keep the visitor's cup constantly topped up...
The kitchen, the warmest place in the homestead - Ulley Village
Stone-throwing competition - with a 5 year old...mmm
Wow! it's cold up there and it's still a way away from the winter months. All we had for washing was a basin of ice-cold water in the open courtyard and in the snow!
The following day was bright, although still chilly, while we hiked up to Tso Rangan - a holy lake at around 4500m above sea level. On the way back, we met the mama (ama-ley) of our house very busy in the fields getting her barley harvested - they only have a few more weeks before they get completely snowed in - bringing the short 3/4 months of growing and harvesting to an end before about 9 months of bitter cold sets in.
The holy lake, Tso Rangan, after a day of snow
After Ulley we had a much easier walk down to the village of Hemis - which is considerably larger (about the size of Nqileni village). There we met a group of travellers and walked with them onto our next homestay in the village of Ang where there was lots of chang, the local barley beer, being brewed. The walk to Ang turned out to be particularly challenging because we'd missed the path up the mountain slope and had to traverse a very slippery sand and skree slope on all fours! ...a bit of an adrenaline rush that makes you forget completely about how tiring the climbing is and makes you concentrate on just trying not to fall!!!
Rejane (2nd from the front) on all fours climbing the slippery skree slope...
On the way to the top of Khardung La
On the top at Khardung La - highest motorable road in the world
Two-humped Camel Safari
Beautiful flower garden at our guest house in Hunder
A few AAAaammmss on the river at Panicker Village to rebalance those chakras
Then, after more socialising and enjoying Leh's great restaurants, we decided to explore Pangong Lake on the Chinese border. It is the highest salt-water lake in the world that lies 25% in India and 75% in China. Because we'd already been over Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world, we figured that going to Pangong Lake, which was on the other side of only the third highest pass in the world, would be a piece of cake. It certainly didn't cross our minds that it could possibly be colder - big mistake! Well, before we had even reached the top of the pass, we were freezing and hungry - having left without having had any breakfast. There are no villages for miles on the way to the pass and nowhere to get a cup of tea or anything to eat. In desperation, we stopped at an army base, manning the sensitive India-China border, to ask how far the next village was and to our surprise the soldiers treated us to hot tea and snacks - they must have been concerned about losing a couple of tourists to hypothermia!
Pangong Lake
Enjoying the icy slip-and-slide back down to Leh
Leh was starting to look like a ghost town when we got back, the buses and flights were chocoblock with tourists hightailing it out of there before it got completely snowed in. We started to make our own plans to leave but not before saying goodbye to all our new friends and enjoying our last Himalayan cuisine and fruit. In our 35 years on this earth, we have simply not tasted apples until we'd tasted the organic, homegrown apples of the small farmers of Ladakh and that's not an exaggeration - Woolies kan gaan slaap. So, finally we left Leh, Ladakh, our home for more than 3 weeks and headed south, via Tso Moriri, yet another stunning lake set in a cold and stark Himalayan rural village, the scenery taking over first place for the most beautiful we've seen on the trip so far.
VIDEO (press play!): Purple road on the way to Tso Moriri
The road from Leh, south to Manali, has a voracious reputation that didn't disappoint; our bike was duly ravished and it took three days, one flat tyre and two busted shock absorbers before we reached Manali. The road although beautiful was, once again, stark and devoid of any settled villages. We overnighted in a tented camp without any toilets and little privacy afforded by the desert landscape - challenging even for a couple of Transkei locals.
VIDEO: Snow Road on the Leh-Manali road
VIDEO: No river is wide enough...small river crossing
After 4 of our hardest travelling days yet, the landscape started to become greener and the air more moist. Our bodies were parched after the dry desert air in Ladakh where we'd had nosebleeds and skin rashes that only pure Vaseline petroleum jelly, applied twice a day (to our entire bodies) made any difference - we'd really tried everything and, yes, good old fashioned Vaseline was the only solution.
Back below the tree line
In Manali we had a good rest, watched lots of cricket and planned the way forward. We have to leave India at the end of October to renew our Indian visas. Tomorrow we start heading east to explore the region called Sikkim & Darjeeling before crossing over to Bangladesh to get new visas and to explore that country for about 6 weeks.
Hanging with other travellers at Shanti Stupa - the town of Leh is in the background
17th century Palace in Leh, modelled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
After a lot of aaauummmms and sun salutations at our medidation course, our first adventure was on a 5 day homestay trek in the Sham valley area, just west of Leh. The homestays are organised by the Snow Leopard Conservancy who have turned this natural home of the snow leopard into a tourist attraction and money earner for the villagers who were exterminating the leopards because of the threat to their livestock. A portion of the homestay earnings goes into a conservancy fund that provides insurance for any livestock lost to the snow leopards. In the 6 years since the programme began, the attitude towards snow leopards has changed markedly and their numbers have been growing.
Ladakhi women in traditional dress at the Leh Festival
Our first homestay was in the village of Ulley which has only 7 households and is situated at about 4200 metres above sea level. We planned to do some walking the following day (Rejane's birthday) but it snowed all day and we ended up huddled in the kitchen with the family eating traditional Ladakhi food, drinking lots of tea, playing cards and fooling around with the kids. We decided to stick to English tea after experimenting briefly with Tibetan butter tea, which is not a tea at all but a rich, salty, buttery soup that congeals in your cup as soon as it starts to cool. Trying to do the polite thing and gulping it down quickly is not much of a solution as it is Tibetan custom to keep the visitor's cup constantly topped up...
Don't look down! - on the way to our homestay in Ulley
The kitchen, the warmest place in the homestead - Ulley Village
Stone-throwing competition - with a 5 year old...mmmWow! it's cold up there and it's still a way away from the winter months. All we had for washing was a basin of ice-cold water in the open courtyard and in the snow!
The following day was bright, although still chilly, while we hiked up to Tso Rangan - a holy lake at around 4500m above sea level. On the way back, we met the mama (ama-ley) of our house very busy in the fields getting her barley harvested - they only have a few more weeks before they get completely snowed in - bringing the short 3/4 months of growing and harvesting to an end before about 9 months of bitter cold sets in.
The holy lake, Tso Rangan, after a day of snowAfter Ulley we had a much easier walk down to the village of Hemis - which is considerably larger (about the size of Nqileni village). There we met a group of travellers and walked with them onto our next homestay in the village of Ang where there was lots of chang, the local barley beer, being brewed. The walk to Ang turned out to be particularly challenging because we'd missed the path up the mountain slope and had to traverse a very slippery sand and skree slope on all fours! ...a bit of an adrenaline rush that makes you forget completely about how tiring the climbing is and makes you concentrate on just trying not to fall!!!
Rejane (2nd from the front) on all fours climbing the slippery skree slope...Back at home base in Leh, we were pleasantly surprised by bumping into some more friends from home: Mike and Laura from Buccanneers - it was a real shock and such a treat - just what were chances of meeting up with some Wild Coast neighbours here in the Himalayas! After spending a couple of sociable days with the all new people we'd met around Leh and old friends from home, we headed to Nubra Valley - over Khardung La - the highest motorable road in the world at 5602 metres above sea level (18 380 feet). The drive was fantastic with more entertaining road signs dishing out good advice to motorists: "Darling, I like you but not so Fast", "Better to be Mr. Late than Late Mr.", " Love your Neighbour, but not while Driving" and some, sharing the philosophical musings of the state's authorities, like: " Without Geography, You Are Nowhere" (good point).
On the way to the top of Khardung La
On the top at Khardung La - highest motorable road in the worldThere was lots of snow at the top of the mountain pass but that was no problem for Dave's new, finely honed biking skills. Having reached Nubra valley we headed for Hunder, a village surrounded by desert sand dunes, for a short two-humped camel safari.
Two-humped Camel Safari
Beautiful flower garden at our guest house in HunderAfter Hunder, we explored Panamik, another beautiful village in the valley and, having met some interesting people, decided to socialise and just chill for an extra day before heading back to base in Leh.
A few AAAaammmss on the river at Panicker Village to rebalance those chakrasThen, after more socialising and enjoying Leh's great restaurants, we decided to explore Pangong Lake on the Chinese border. It is the highest salt-water lake in the world that lies 25% in India and 75% in China. Because we'd already been over Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world, we figured that going to Pangong Lake, which was on the other side of only the third highest pass in the world, would be a piece of cake. It certainly didn't cross our minds that it could possibly be colder - big mistake! Well, before we had even reached the top of the pass, we were freezing and hungry - having left without having had any breakfast. There are no villages for miles on the way to the pass and nowhere to get a cup of tea or anything to eat. In desperation, we stopped at an army base, manning the sensitive India-China border, to ask how far the next village was and to our surprise the soldiers treated us to hot tea and snacks - they must have been concerned about losing a couple of tourists to hypothermia!
On the road to Pangong Lake
Pangong LakePangong Lake was breathtakingly beautiful but cold, very cold and the following day, as we got ready to return to Leh, it starting snowing... and we'd thought the previous day's trip had been cold... The road over the pass was covered in ice, making the bike ride a slippery one and Rejane had to get off and walk the downhills while Daredevil Dave enjoyed the slip-and-slide.
Enjoying the icy slip-and-slide back down to LehLeh was starting to look like a ghost town when we got back, the buses and flights were chocoblock with tourists hightailing it out of there before it got completely snowed in. We started to make our own plans to leave but not before saying goodbye to all our new friends and enjoying our last Himalayan cuisine and fruit. In our 35 years on this earth, we have simply not tasted apples until we'd tasted the organic, homegrown apples of the small farmers of Ladakh and that's not an exaggeration - Woolies kan gaan slaap. So, finally we left Leh, Ladakh, our home for more than 3 weeks and headed south, via Tso Moriri, yet another stunning lake set in a cold and stark Himalayan rural village, the scenery taking over first place for the most beautiful we've seen on the trip so far.
VIDEO (press play!): Purple road on the way to Tso Moriri
The road from Leh, south to Manali, has a voracious reputation that didn't disappoint; our bike was duly ravished and it took three days, one flat tyre and two busted shock absorbers before we reached Manali. The road although beautiful was, once again, stark and devoid of any settled villages. We overnighted in a tented camp without any toilets and little privacy afforded by the desert landscape - challenging even for a couple of Transkei locals.
VIDEO: Snow Road on the Leh-Manali road
VIDEO: No river is wide enough...small river crossing
After 4 of our hardest travelling days yet, the landscape started to become greener and the air more moist. Our bodies were parched after the dry desert air in Ladakh where we'd had nosebleeds and skin rashes that only pure Vaseline petroleum jelly, applied twice a day (to our entire bodies) made any difference - we'd really tried everything and, yes, good old fashioned Vaseline was the only solution.
Back below the tree lineIn Manali we had a good rest, watched lots of cricket and planned the way forward. We have to leave India at the end of October to renew our Indian visas. Tomorrow we start heading east to explore the region called Sikkim & Darjeeling before crossing over to Bangladesh to get new visas and to explore that country for about 6 weeks.
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