The Himalayan Sojourn,Chapter 2: An acquaintance with Leh

Our first two days were spent acclimatising in Leh. Initial acclimatisation* is critical before moving on to higher altitudes and normally takes 1-2 days. Drinking plenty of water helps, I religiously drank 4 litres of water (my highest ever average daily consumption) and earned the title of the "water lady" , much to the amusement of my fellow trekkers. The Leh itinerary was normal touristy stuff - Thiksey Monastery,the Shey Palace, the Sindhu Ghat on the banks of the Indus and a stroll in the Leh Market to pick up woolens or other essential trekking equipment.

There is something very mysterious and blissful that fills the confines of the monasteries of Ladakh. There is darkness, yet a lot of colour , faded frescoes and beautiful buddhas but also a bewildering variety of images. In front of the altar, there are butter lit lamps and usually small bowls containing water.Scrolls of silk hang from the roof. Long woodblock printed , loose leafed books with wooden covers are kept near the altar. Buddhist monks in their red robes silently walk by. A world almost untouched and eerie lies behind the walls.

The Leh Market is small but littered with shops which sell almost everything ( my fears of not being able to find batteries were pretty much unfounded). In case you need to stock up on essential items for the trek , you will be able to find everything - backpacks, downjackets,batteries, trekking shoes,medicines , trekking guides - albeit at a hefty price.The market is also a good hunting ground for street food - hot kebabs on skewers and a mouth watering variety of street snacks. A visit to the Amdo cafe is a must , a well known eatery serving Tibetan food. Amdo cafe turned out to be one of our favourite haunts for Tibetan food and the 10 of us would just land up there with a marathon of orders whenever we dropped by at Leh.

On the third day, we packed up our backpacks and headed out of Leh with our guide and porters. The plan was to visit Lamayuru monastery situated on the Srinagar-Kargil -Leh road during the day. Lamayuru is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh and the long winding road also passes through the confluence of the Indus and the Zanskar. We would head off to Chilling in the evening where we would camp for the night on the banks of the Zanskar. Next morning , our horseman with the mules would meet us on the other side of the river from where the trek would begin.

A punctured tyre just a few kilometers away from Chilling in the evening forced us to set camp at a hamlet nearby instead of the original camping site . As the sun set and the icy winds grew stronger, all of us gathered in our dining tent for our first camping dinner. During the entire course of the trek,an inadvertent pre and post trekking regime automatically fell into place- a wake up call at 6a.m in the morning before which most of us would be out of our sleeping bags (some even had unique warmup exercises to fight the biting cold), retiring after the trek to discussions over cups of hot tea and kawa ,details of which I have promised not to reveal ( what was said in Ladakh, stays in Ladakh;)) and continous games of Uno (the charm of which I absolutely failed to understand) , sometimes continuing well after dinner.

After dinner we strolled around for a while , trying to figure out constellations , but retired to our tents soon as the winds grew stronger. Our trek would finally begin the next day - five days of experiencing Ladakh , raw and unplugged.

Conversational footnotes:

Heard at a liquor shop in Leh where a couple of us stood shivering asking for some brandy:
"Brandy ka season to khatam ho gaya,woh to winter mein milta hai" (clearly someone has not heard about benchmarking)

From the neighbouring tent on the first day of camping:
"Can I turn inside my sleeping bag on the side?" ( No Mevil, I wont write about your more intriguing questions in order to protect my blog's sanity).

*Diamox is a very useful drug which helps in acclimatisation by making the blood thinner. Test for sulphur allergy before diamox intake. Also, the drug is only a preventive medicine , it cannot ensure altitude sickness will not hit.