Hi All,
It has been some since my last post, so here I go again. Right now I am in Manali and as to speak in the real world again. Yesterday when we arrived it was rainy, but right now the weather is fine although rain is expected every day around here.
The hikingg around Leh was fabulous. For five days we walked between 4 to 6 hours verey day through the mountains and it looked loike we were walking on the moon. Heavy mountains to climb and no vegetation at all.the route we walked:
Day 1: Basco to Likir (3500mtr). Bikir is a very little village at the beginning of the indus river and has a nice monastary to visit with a Buddha of 30 mtr. The walk was very heavy because of the temperature of about 40C and because we had to cross a desert, so we had no protection against the sun at all. In the evening I felt a little sick, probably because of the heat. At the end of the walk I had finished my complete storage of water for the day (5 liters)
Day 2 Likir to Yangtang (3600mtr)
We have 2 passes to cross today: the Pobe La (3550mtr) and the Charatse La (3630mtr). A walk of appr. 4 hours through beautiful colored mountains. At night the sky was really clear and I cannot imagine to have seen so much stars. Even the Galaxy (Melkweg) was very clear to see.
Day 3 Yangtang to Hemis Shuckpachan (3700mtr)
A heavy steep climb to the Sermanchan pass at 3750mtr. I get really used to the walking through the mountains and developed a steady slow step. Going up your own tempo and enjoy the surroundings.
Day 4 Hemis Shuckpachang to Themisgang (3200 mtr)
Although going down for the day we have to do the first pass at 3750 mtr (Lago Meptekpass). I am getting used to the altitude now and the walking goes smoothly. The surroundings keep amazing.
Day 5 Themisgang to Ulitokpo via Lamayuro.
The last day of the hike and a hard one. First a tough climb to the Bongbongpass (3650 mtr) and then a slowly decent through a moonlike landscape to the mainroad where jeeps are waiting to take us to Ulitokpo.
In the evening we say goodbey to our crew who took care of building our camp every day, prepared oud good (vegatarian) meals and moved our lugage (by car). We had some drinks in the evening and gave them their tips. They all looked happy.
Then back to Leh for a day to have a shower and clean up from the hike.
Went to DakhTok to see the Buddhist festival. A day full of dances, music and a lot of local people who visited the festival. We stayed near the monastery at a campsite.
In the morning wed visited the second day of the festival. After lunch we left with our bus back to Leh.
In Leh we had to do some shopping as the next 2 days we are only on the road and it was not sure whether we would find a decent place to have lunch.
Leh to Sarchu (4100mtr)
The road is dusty and bad. It is a lot of driving today (10-12hrs) as we have to cross some very high passes.
1) TaglangLa (5350mtr), which is the 2nd highest pass in the world which can be driven by car.
2) Lachung La (50656)
You cannot imagine that all traffic have to go through this road to reach Leh. All goods (oil, food, etc) has to pass this bad road.
We sleep in a permanent campsite with luxury tents at 4100 mtr altitude. Around the campsite huge marmots live and are easy to see and also al lot of Edelweiss grows here. The Swiss would be jealous, because it is almost impossible not to step on it.
Sarchu to Keylong (3350 mtr)
A 6 hour drive. Still no vegetation accept some moss. The mountains are coloured from yellow till red and covered with snow.
An easy ride with only one high pass (Baralacha 4880mtr).
Keylong to Manali (2050mtr)
First part of the trip goes all well. Good road and fast driving. After the pass the wheather turns and it is raining (first time during the trip). The road turns into a slippery way of mud. Driving goes slow and a few times traffic gets stuck as cars and trucks gets stuck in the mud. A lot of yelling and waiting, but this will always be solved. Costs some time :-)
And now 2 days in Manali. Went to a barbershop this morning to have a good shave. Feel like a babyskin again :-)
CU,
Arjan
No comments:
Post a Comment