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15:03 on July 12 2009. So here I am in Leh enjoying the view of the Leh Palace out my room window and resting my ankle after a morning of sighseeing and overexertion on my ankle. I survived the 20 hour bus ride over a distance of 474Km and being jostled from side to side, front to back, back to front, and listening to 20 hours of continuous Indian music (even when the passengers turned down the volume, the driver turned it back up) I can say that my music sense is NOW completely drowned in everything Indian. Yeah, really. OMG. Between the jostling and the Indian music, I think my music soul and inner organs got left somewhere on the Leh-Manali roadway. About 97% of the way is not paved, single lane, most times with a sheer drop to one side, always expect some obstacle (like military checkpoint holdup or parked truck in the way or rockslide or breakdown…the latter 2 in my case), and most of all a crazy Indian driver, though, how skilled the guy is in driving and off roading parts of the way, on the patch of nicely paved last stretch of 10 Km or so, he was still driving like a lunatic like there were no passengers in the back of the vehicle. During turns on the drive, driver would turn sharply REALLY jostling the passengers in all directions. These turns were nothing but switchbacks except at a higher than acceptable incline by North American roadway standards. Add to this, dirt road with puddles of water and flowing streams over the road from the snow melt and humongous pot holes, it was nothing but a hairy trip. This drive is very scenic. So if you make the trip, it is FOR the scenery. Otherwise just fly direct to Leh from Delhi, then you miss out on the magnificent scenery and driving over the second highest motorway pass in the world: the Talang La pass at 5300m. I will let the reader enjoy the photos rather than go into describing the scenic route. One could also see Tibetan nomads camped along the upper plains who migrated into the region over the mountains (the Chinese/Tibetan border is closeby, so is Pakistan). Along the way most vehicles spend a night at one of the “hotel” tents sites. Some organized shared vehicles like mine do not stop but zip direct from Manali to Leh in 18 hours, leaving at 2am. Well in our case, the vehicle broke down 4 times (supposedly a faulty gear which miraculously got fixed each time). As the day wore on, it was obvious we weren’t going to make it without breaking for the night, safely, anyway as the driver had been on the go for 16 hours and the passengers were exhausted from being jostled around. Yeah, 16 hours of continuous jostling is no small matter. This journey is not for the faint hearted. So we stopped at this campsite with a really yucky toilet outhouse with no door. All the pit and break stops thus far had no such thing as a toilet. It seems the men just go and pee in some corner. Like our driver, he just stop the van in the middle of the road, walk across the way, face the other way, and piss. Dunno what the women do. When I asked where the toilet was at the first stop, I was told go up the hill (the area had a stream on one side and a hill on the other) and at another stop, I was told go to any of the rocks. So it was either a bush or a rock. At the hill of the first stop, I almost re-sprained my ankle walking up the steep (yep steep by injury standards) hill. But when you gotta go, you gotta go. Anyway, here I am in Leh. The area is very much like Arizona. A Ladakhi monk in my van who had been to Arizona actually pointed it out. The weather is sunny, dry and cool. Very much like Arizona with the sunny days and blue skies like spring or autumn time in Arizona. Really if you take away the gompas(monasteries), stupas(a holy shrine built out of stone in the old day, present day put of concrete) or prayer wheels, the place would be Arizona (see photos). The province of Ladakh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (Jammu for Hindus and Kashmir for Moslems) really feels more like central Asia, rather than India. The border to Pakistan and China are very near. Some of the Ladakhis going back originate from Tibet, hence the Asian features. Interesting. See, you learn something new everyday. I didn’t know this until I got here. On the going to Srinagar in Kashmir to see the Dal Lake and floating garden, I had to scrap that a second time. I walked into 3 travel agencies yesterday to inquire about transport and was highly recommended not to go. Apparently curfew is in effect but may clear up by the time I was to go. One person showed me the newspapers on the riot and curfew going on now. Two weeks ago I had read something about a rape of a female and protest by the people. Then the military got involved and 2 people got shot and killed. Apparently the situation has since gotten aggravated by 2 additional rapes and more protests. So this isn’t even got anything to do with the Pakistanis (usually the case) but appears more of a civilian uprising in anger at a rape by a military person who refuses to own up to it. Then as I walked into my guest house, a Canadian guy who just arrived from Srinagar in the past week told me he almost got stoned in the old city in Srinagar by locals. Contrary to what I am told in Delhi (where they try and sell you a package completely ignoring the situation in Kashmir) where the Kashmiris leave the tourists alone, hearing this first hand had me canceling my visit to Kashmir in a heartbeat. So it would have been no problem getting stuck in a houseboat, but the thing is getting out (catching my flight at the airport) could be a problem and you just get stuck in Srinagar indefinitely. I heard that shared jeeps (shared public transpo which I would have taken) could potentially get stoned by angry Kashmiris. So, again!, I had to cancel and re-juggle my flight from Leh instead from Srinagar. As expected, the price had increased since I canceled my last flight from Leh. With expensive Internet access and no signal on my Indian prepaid cellular I was pretty pressed to get my plans settled. So it finally got resolved after a long tired afternoon. Then I ran into 2 nice American older ladies also staying at my guest house on a work medical visit. The thing about Indian guest houses or hotels (the budget ones, anyway) is that you have to provide your own toilet paper or buy it from the establishment. One of the ladies was kind enough to donate some toilet paper to me as I was on my way out to get some. It seems my hobbling around gets me more attention and charity than I would like ;) So, now given that I have more time in Leh, I will be headed to the Nubra Valley (Valley of the Flowers), north of Leh for a couple of days. But first, visitors to the area need to get a permit. A permit is required because because of the proximity to the Pakistani border (108Km from Leh). So, now I have to wait an extra day to get the permit. The travel agency takes care of everything for a fee, of course. It should be interesting since I will be passing the highest motor pass (exciting since I just went over the second highest motor pass just yesterday) Khardung La. I am told that the area resembles more of Central Asia than India. There is a Sahara like sand dunes area between Diskit and Hunder where the camel species from the Silk Road era are available for rides. Interesting, sand dune desert in the far part of Northern India. I will have gone to the northern most part of India after this short side trip. Leh is also trekker central region. I will be Nepal during August where all treks are not available because of the monsoon period. Just as well, I don’t think I can go very far anyway with a sprained ankle. I supposed I could have a done a multi day trek from Leh, which, I hear is very beautiful from other travelers I have met. But again, the damn sprain. Good grief, this has got to be the most frustrating time of my travels. Occasionally I have shortness of breath, Leh is above 3000m where AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) sets in. Some people take Diamox to combat the problem. On the van approaching 4000m, the Korean girl next to me on the van started to develop headaches and shortness of breath. At camp that night, she had problems breathing. Luckily for me I did not encounter any problems but had earlier around 3000m, so I must have acclimated. Reaching Talang La at 5300m, I was ok. The Korean girl was really having a hard time. So far in India I have met Koreans, Taiwanese and Japanese travelers on extended travel, a couple more than 5 months in India and Nepal. Today in Leh, I ran into a couple of Singaporeans and 1 Malaysian in Leh on a medical trip. Didn’t get into details. Another funny thing I saw today was a calf standing with its head inside some hanging clothes at a stall. Too funny. Next thing it started to munch at a pair of pants and pull it down from its hanger. After which I stood there laughing and the stall owner came running out screaming at the calf to go away. Too funny. I think it is the same calf I have seen wandering the streets and up the side streets. It seems to munch at everything it can get its teeth in. Too funny. It was standing outside a laundromat near my guest house presumable observing the clothes thinking it is food. LOL. There seem to be a lot of Americans in Leh, in India in general. Must be because Americans are the only ones who can get a 10 year visa and all others only up to 6 months. If you register with the Indian authorities (I think the Police) then one could disappear for 10 years! LOL. As one traveler pointed out, get another 10 year visa and that is the rest of your life. There are many retiree travelers who spend time in countries like India and Thailand for most of the year. With their retirement funds, on a cost per day basis, it is still cheaper to have a day at a budget guest house and meals than in a country like the UK. The only thing is getting accustomed to the dirty aspect of India. It really is a love affair. You either can stand it or not.
0310 on July 13 2009. The constant swelling of my ankle and shortness of breath has me up most of the nights. I think tis time to wander down to the chemist/druggist (HaHa, it’s what they call the pharmacist around here) and get some Diamox, especially before I head up to the Nubra Valley where enroute I will be crossing the highest motor pass of Kardung La at 5602m. The one word that everyone uses around here is “jule” (joo-lay) which means in Ladakhi “hello”, “good bye”, “please” and “thank you”. It’s the universal greet all. The Ladakhis are very friendly and helpful people. Actually quite different from the Indian norm, though most of them speak Hindi. The religions of Buddhism, Moslem, Hindi and Christianity are present here, in the order by population mentioned. I have this lump on top of my ankle bone which has me wandering what it is especially times like this. The thought of whether I broke something or not is constantly on my mind. I think this is going take months to heal. Electricity outages and bucket hot water are common in this part of India. As one of the American ladies I spoke with yesterday, things are a little “primitive” around here. At the moment I am using my headlamp as my light. I can’t believe how much I depend on this thing! The guest house I am at has centrally oven heated hot water between the hours of 7-9am and 7-9pm daily which feeds into the showers in the attached toilet/shower. So basically I wake myself up at 7am to take a shower and then go back to sleep. The evening window is not so reliable as the person who lights up the oven sometimes forgets ;). Yep, here I am again, splurging on the view and the luxury of an attached toilet/shower. And the guest house like every other in Leh has 3 flights of steps. There are cheap accommodations around for about Rs. 150 per nights (USD3.00) with common toilet/shower and bucket hot water, where, typically I would be staying at. But I am not exactly in the position to walk up and down the stairs to the toilet. Excuses, excuses. So, the idiot that I am is shelling out around Rs. 700 per night instead…not good for long term travel. Anyhow, this won’t continue after Leh. This has got to be the worst I am feeling in all my travels. Injury is the worst thing to happen and then to discover that the travel insurance you bought was issued by non other than AIG, which, I believe I helped bailout with my tax dollars. All travelers I have spoken to have told me that typically their insurance policy takes care of payment up front instead of having the insured pay up front then file a claim later…but of course, these travelers are not from the US. Typical US policy, file a claim, file a claim. Only to discover 3 months later your claim is denied. Health insurance including travel health insurance from the US sucks. The night insects are swarming my headlamp and computer. Tis time to go back snoozing. Leh is Arizona at an elevation of over 3000m. It is like when I was in Cuzco right before the Inca Trail where I had shortness of breath let alone walk around the town. Least there you could drink the coco tea to alleviate the problem. I guess it will have to be Diamox in Leh.
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