LADAKH

"TREKKING DAYS"

Saturday - August 2nd    Trekking day ! We had to get up early, because this trip would start with a 2 hours bus ride. 

After we were dropped we started our way to Likir gompa. This was fairly easy, because we walked on a broad stony road. But as it turned out the group already split into several subgroups, before reaching Likir. This was already a sign of what was to happen during the rest of the day. 

After an hour or so , we walked on and the group fell apart again. Now, this wouldn't have been bad, had we had sufficient support. But we only had 1 guide and 1 porter. Thus after a while they couldn't handle their job anymore and so it happened that the "head group" walked too far (luckily they had stopped somewhere) and had to walk back. From that point there was a steep descent to a river. Now there was virtually no path, only rocks, stones, shrubs and water. Although this wasn't all too far, again the group fell apart and after settling down at a certain point, we found out that some were missing !!

They were found after all, but a slight panic had struck them already.

From that point on I decided that whatever happened I would be the last person in the group, so I walked in the rear. The next part had a steep climb and things for a couple op people weren't very easy. Walk a few meters, rest. Walk a few meters, rest. And so on. Finally we reached the top and things went more easy from there. 

At one point we found Frits, Inge and Ilke sitting against a rock. Again Frits was having major problems. I stayed with him and send Inge and Ilke ahead to warn someone to collect us. After a while the bus (which had brought our sleeping bags and heavy stuff to the base camp) came up, but drove past us. After a while Frits felt better (he had eaten some Isostar stuff) and we decided to try to walk our way. After several times "only 10 minutes" (which is probably the only time period Ladakhi know) we reached camp. 

Although I had thought we were the last persons to arrive by foot, it turned out that still two persons had walked behind us. They showed up after half an hour or so. At first we didn't believe them and thought they had come by bus, but they insisted that was not the case !!  

That evening we had a nice dinner and after a while (it gets dark around 20.00h) we went to our tents and tried to sleep.  

Sunday - August 3rd    The second day of our trekking, from Yangtang to Hemis Shukpachu .This was a fairly easy one. Though there was a choice: either a short trek or a longer one (7-8hrs), along the Rizdong monastery. Except for Marcel and Mariken (and the guide) we all chose the shorter version. As I said fairly easy.

 We arrived at our camp early afternoon and spent our time watching the locals making bread. After they found out that pictures taken with my camera could be watched instantly, everyone wanted their picture taken. This of course broke any ice immediately.

Later that day it started to rain and Marcel and Mariken arrived (just too late, so they got wet). It had been a beautiful trek, but at times a bit scary as well. For at one stage they had to slide down a pebbled mountain. Marcel trousers wore the reminder of that.

After dinner (delicious again, for which we thanked the cook in Ladakhi, since Mariek had bought a phrase book. And with the help of our team we managed to say: "solpon le, machiporak" . It's most probably spelled wrong ) we sat with the team and started to sing some songs. The team swiftly took over and began to sing Ladakhi songs, soon to be spectated by the locals. So we sang and danced with them and had a wonderful evening. 

Monday - August 4th        The third day of our trek lay in front of us. A long trek (5-6 hrs), with a steep ascent, but after that relatively easy. It would take us from HemisShukpachu to Temisgam. Two passes we had to climb. One on 3710mtrs altitude and the other 3750mtrs. No, that's not a difference of 40 mtrs !!!!! 

Although Agnes had some problems in the beginning, we all reached the first pass together. After the descent with the following ascent people took their own pace. This was for the best, because it was long and steep. But in the end everyone reached the top.After a while we were accompanied by three other climbers, who took the following picture of the entire group.(unfortunately the quality of this picture is very poor)

      we've reached the top

After that, as said, it was relatively easy 

and we all received camp together. There the crew was already waiting with the tea.

Again that evening we sang and danced (round a bonfire), although most of the group went to bed quite early. Tomorrow we're going to visit two monasteries/palaces/Gompa's and head back to Leh.

Tuesday- August 5th    Today we went to Lamayura and Alchi Gompa. Especially the ride towards the former was spectacular, with beautiful views of the mountains. The road was bad. We would call it off-road driving, but there it's the "highway" ! This time we sat in taxi's, so it was almost comfortable. Lamayura is beautifully set against mountains. The monastery itself wasn't really much more than others we had seen. Alchi Gompa is quite different. To me it looked much older and in contrary to most others all the buildings are on level ground.

After arriving at Leh again we went to the place we had been to to hire two motorbikes for tomorrow. But this stupid Indian (excuse me) said he knew of nothing ("he was from Leh" and called Manuel). So we had a bit of an argument and ended up with one Enfield (motorbike). We then walked to a shop, where I had hired a sleeping mat and asked the man if he had something for tomorrow. He wasn't sure yet and told us to come back tomorrow.

I then collected the 4 t-shirts I had ordered, we had a late dinner and went back to the hotel for some sleep. All in all in had been a nice day. 

back to  "Leh days"     (July 27th - August 1st and August 6th)

or  go to  "(busride to)  Manali"  (August 7th - August 11th)

or "Dharamsala and Delhi"  (August 12th - August 17th)

or all the way back to the

All photographs taken with Canon pro90IS and adjusted for the internet. Except for a few changes in background (blurring*and/or cropping **) or slight cosmetic changes***, these photographs are not tampered with ! And if you didn't figure it out yet: click on a photograph to get a full view ! (this may take some time, depending on your download speed !)

Last changed 03-02-2006 17:32