Leh - The Trek

17/06
Today is THE day. The trek will finally start today so we wake up very excited about it. After our traditional breakfast, we tae our litlle day pack and go down the town to meet up with our driver, Jigmet our local guide and our trekking companions: an Italian couple, Gloria and Vicenzo from Bologne and Rome, and two young English girls from Cambridge, Bex and Flora. We all climb in our big 4wd and leave or a three hour drive to Lamayuru where we are going to visit the monastery. The atmosphere in the car is great, we get to know each other, we laugh, we talk a lot. The road brings us once again to high altitude passes but nothing bad really. We get stuck for half an hour as a landslide has blocked the road. We contemplate the landscape and bare sandy mountains and the beautiful cathedral-like erosion of the mountain flanks.
We then reach Lamayuru monastery, set at 3390m, one of most famous and picturesque gompa of Ladakh, holding a spectacular position on the rock. It was built in the 10th century and is one of the oldest in Ladakh. It hosts every year a big festival, but we are there 4 days too early!!! We meet old Ladakhi women in their traditional outfit, prayer wheel at hand swinging, here to pray...Few monks are around as the monastery is still active. We vist the temple and monks are chanting...a monk stands out as his hair are very long...he looks like a sadhu but he is a buddhist monk...The monastery is under preparation for the festival and we get to see 'tomas', small votive objects made of barley and butter, representing deities, humans and animals. After few more moments spent around the place we leave to the car and meet women in their celebration outfits, with their ancestral family coiffes made of turquoise... They shine in the bright sun and it's a real pleasure to the eyes and we feel privileged to see them. So far the only ones we saw were in antique shops... We get back in the car and drive down the old Lamayuru road, which laces up the mountain side to the start of the trek. We have lunch from our lunchbox. We then walk for about three hours, an easy road over the river to get used to the walking in the high mountains. The mountains are bare and the sun is strong this afternoon. We reach Hinju a small village at the end of the track, overlooking the valley with a lovely and very small monastery. The village is mainly inhabited by shepperds of pashmina goats and we witness the goats coming back home. Then at the corner of the house we were standing, an old woman in her dark traditional clothing starts talking to us in Ladakhi of course. We laugh a lot during a very weird conversation and all of a sudden Val and her start talking about exchanging their shoes. We spend half an hour laughing as Val gets one of the traditional woolen shoes and the old woman one of Val's trekking shoe. We all laugh so much, and they exchange again their shoes: the woman prefers her shoes, softer and more comfortable!!! After this peculiar moment, we make it back top the camp that our guide, (who will be our) horsemen and cook have set up for us. We take our dinner and talk quite late around a mutton dinner, the first non vegetarian meal for two months!!! We chat around dinner to get to know each other more and then all go to bed as tomorrow something big is waiting for us...

18/06
At 6.30am Jigmet comes and wakes us up with a cup of chai, which he calls 'bed chai'. Litteraly stil in bed we sip our warm beverage before getting ready for breakfast and unsetting the camp. Whilst we are pulliung the tents apart, the horsemen arrive with our new trek companions: seven small donkey which will carry all the food, camp gear and cooking stuff for the next four days...and a two month old baby donkey!!! He is too young to carry anything and still needs the milk from the mother. So he'll come with us and enjoy the landscape!!! The start of the day is gentle, slowly going up along the river bank. The village slowly disappear, like the vegetation around it, and we go deeper in the bare rocky mountain. The lanscape is breathtaking, the light is really strong, the slopes appear even whiter and the sun washes away all the tints of beige the mountain can offer. Only the clear colour of the pure river water running at the bottom of the valley strikes out... But two hours later we are at the foot of the biggest climb of the trek. For three and a half hours we need to go over the Kungski La pass which culminates at 4950m high. The climb is strenuous, we need to stop every twenty steps as the air is so thin it feels that there is no oxygen...It is our first real experience of high mountains and we soon realise that we will not experience this in Europe. We are here above the Mont-Blanc, highest mountain of Europe at 4807m. I feel a lot of excitement because of this and really pushing some limits. We make it to the top safe, if not cold as the wind is blowing hard here. We all need a long rest, on the sheltered side of the pass, lying under the sun. The girls are exhausted and some of them even fall asleep! I push a little higher and make even it to 4957m (or around)! The view from the pass is mind blowing, the snow capped peaks around us are enormous and we feel very very small, grandeur of mother nature. The valley on the other side offers views of purple, green, blue-ish stones all co-existing in a palette of amazing colours. The mountains here are young and we see all the different layers of the ground that one day started emerging from the earth, raw, sharp like a razor egde or a shark tooth... We all contemplate the beauty offered to us and feel blessed...We then start the descent down the valley...a long stretch of near constant inclination that breaks the legs a bit...or what remains of our legs! On the way we meet a group of Ladakhis going up the pass, the have a beautifully dressed up horse in colourful robe. It appears that it is the Rinpoche's horse and they are going to meet him in Hinju tomorrow. We'll discover later that the Rinpoche is more or less taking the same route as us and will attend some celebrations around the various valleys around. We'll be a day early in front of him in all the places, but won't meet him! A little further down, we meet for the first time the real mountain inhabitants, the yaks! They are really big and some of them can reach the weight of 1000kg!!! Their hair is really long and thick and make them appear even bigger!!! What a discovery!! Crossing rivers, low rise bushes and rocky river beds we reach our camp set in a bend of the river banks. Our horsement are already here and the cook is getting the dinner ready. But before hand we enjoy a noodle soup at 4.30pm to warm us up. The area is bear and quite cold, and the valley emphasis the cold wind strength. We wrap up in our warmest clothes and lay down under the once again deep blue sky and soothing bright sunshine to get warm. All of us, trekkers, horsemen, guide, cook AND donkeys are tired and we all laze under the warm sun...We talk a lot more and exchange about our feelings and still can't believe we made it!!! We then wrap up in more clothes and have our favourite dinner, rice and dahl!! We talk a bit more after dinner, laugh and kid around for a while and then go to bed. It's been a long and surprising day, full of beauty and challenges. We fall asleep quickly in the cold ans starry night...

19/06
6.30am and Jigmet wakes up up with a cup of chai...It is blessing as the night has been extremely cold. So cold that it kept me awake for some time (we went out in the freezing cold temperature which allowed us to witness the beautiful sky) as I was trying to warm up despite the multi layers and the warm sleeping bag... We wake up under a bright deep blue sky and we gather for breakfast under the warming sun... The sky last night was absolutely amazing, clear, loads of endless shooting stars and the stars so close it felt we could have picked them like picking a fruit from a tree. Just before we leave, the baby donkey comes close to us as the mother is eating porridge out of the pan... We all enjoy a very touching moment as the baby donkey drops on his side and lets us stroke him like you would stroke a pet animal... None of us can resist... But it is now time to resume our trek and we set off, down river. But shortly after the start of our walk I slip on a rock and twist my ankle pretty badly. The pain is so violent that it takes me a long time before I can even utter a sound. I am so scared I've sprained my ankle and that I won't be able to carry on... My foot is numb because of the shock. Val and the other ones gather around me, worried. The pain is so bad and because of the altitude I struggle to find my breath. I get rid of my shoe and after a minute or two, I manage to move it. Slowly but surely I stretch it. I put my shoe back on, lace it up tight and put the foot on the floor...gently...and it holds without too much pain. I start walking slowly, step after step the ankle holds and I gain confidence...the trek can go on!!! We walk down the river to the next stage, in the middle of the valley, flanked by dry slopes overlooked by snow capped peaks, we meet women working on the maintenance of the track, and arrive in a small village where we visit the small monastery. It is under preparation as the Rinpoche is coming...tomorrow! There will be celebrations all day and a sort of marquee has been put together to receive all the guests. Gloria, Enzo and I decide to go to visit the temple, the girls decide to stay low and avoid another climb. In the temple Jigmet explains to me a few things about the paintings and the representations of Buddhas. I take few more pictures and we start our walk again to the foot of our next climb, the Dundunchen La, 4700m above sea level. Leaving the village we meet two ladakhis on their horses who are coming to help for the preparations The climb is not too steep and we arrive at the top not too exhausted...nothing compared to the Kungski La! The views are impressive once again and we stroll on a gentle slope down to our next camp. At the end of the rather short walk, maybe an hour, and just before reaching the camp, we stop on the river bed and bath our burning feet in the cold mountain stream. It feels absolutely great and so soothing! We then head off to our beautiful camp in the birth of a valley near spring waters. We are surrounded by an arch of dry and high mountains and set in a patch of green, which makes it very unique...like a little oasis. Many dzos are around as the place is used by shepperds during the summer as a grazing station. We watch the donkeys that have been here for a while. As usual, they overtook us during the climb.... We set up the tents and then relax, read and let the time go by until dinner. it's now 9pm and we go to bed, tomorrow will be a challenge...

20/06
We had a good sleep last night and feel good to face the day. After breakfast, we start the hike with a steep climb, no warming up, no preparation and a belly too full of another great breakfast...our legs are hard and it's very difficult to get into a rythm. Adding to my cold twisted ankle, the day does not start on a jolly note! The climb should take about an hour and a half to two hours and will take us to 4600m, to the Lanak Pass. 500m inclination but the track is quite vertical. After a very painful climb, many stops and few tears, we arrive at the top an hour and ten minutes later. Not bad! The lanscape that unveils in front of us offers once again breathtaking views, very high peaks, we can see the Stok Kangri (6200m) and the Kangyatse (6400m)piercing the horizon, purple, grey blue and bronze green mountains alternating in a dance of colours changing under the sun.
We take a rest here, watching the landscape, chatting about ladakhi culture and history with Jigmet. After a good rest, we start the descent to our next camp. The slope is quite steep, dusty and rather long, with no flat area. It is very stainuous and the knees and legs and my ankle decides to play a trick again! Not as bad as the first time but twisting it a second is rather painful...and frustating. After a few rants and lovely words (shame on me) I get up and carry on the very slow (now) and long journey to the camp. It is set in the grounds of a shepperd station. We have lunch in the pen, surrounded by various donkeys and goats little souvenirs, and set the tents in the same spot. No smell though so all is fine! We spend the afternoon talking and reading in the warm sun. Towards the end of the afternoon we decoide to play cards in the 'dinning room' as the sun sets and the fresh air is wrapping us. We have a fantastic laugh playing 'Cheat' and 'Wist', games the girls taught us. Our laughter are shortly interrupted by dinner and we crack on for few more rounds of funny games...We then all go to brush our teeth in the same spot, 'group therapy activity' according to Enzo, I take some night sky pictures and we happily go to bed...stars in the eyes...

21/06
The night was not too cold, but I could not sleep very well. The hard floor and thin matress start to show no mercy to my back. I woke up a few times and it is a bit tired that we have our breakfast early morning. Short walk downhill to Chilling. We go down fairly steeply to follow the river. From desert we end up following a track alond the river with flowering bushes. Nice little touches of pink and green in the middle of the beige sand and limestone mountains. We arrive in Chilling, visit the small monastery that is under intense preparations as the Rinpoche is coming here...tomorrow!!! Wait for our jeeps, one will bring Bex and Flora back, the other will take the four of us as we want to go back to Lamayuru today as there is the festival going on. The girl's jeep arrives and it's time to say goodbye to our young fellow trekkers. Few minutes later we take the road, but the driver does not want to take us to the festival, this is being against his 'orders'. But apparently it will carry on tomorrrow...little hope here! We are pretty silent in the car, all of us are rather tired, Val dozzing off against the window. We manage to decide to go for another experience with our transalpin companion in two days time, to the lake.
We make it to our guesthouse where our little family has kept the big room for us! We unpack and start sorting out the laundry. We have so many dirty clothes...A bit of sewing for my trouser (I ripped it the last day!) and shirt, a bit of admin, washing the stinky shoes, Val naps, she's tired...But MOST OF ALL, we have a wonderful and regenerating HOT SHOWER!!!!!

22/06
Lazy today, we recover from the trek and as we're going to the lake tomorrow, we chill out. Val reads on the roof terrace, I stay in the room, have a nap. Later we meet up with our friends and Chris joins us in our favourite Tibetan canteen to eat momos and special thenthuk! We go to bed late-ish and get our stuff organised for tomorrow as we are leaving for a two day trip to the Pangong lake.