Leh Lowdown

We are departing tomorrow from Leh and heading back down into what I will call Normal India. Some quick thoughts on Leh:

FUN/INTERESTING EXPERIENCES - not including trekking

- Visiting Buddhist monasteries is always an interesting thing to do when you are in a mountain area such as this. They always kind of have this feeling of time standing still because you can never tell what is new and what is old, and often they have a lot of statues and paintings that are hundreds of years old just sitting in the inner rooms. That and the monks doing their chanting and drumming is pretty cool.

- Polo matches at the Leh polo ground are a really cool sports event. It is the yearly Ladakh Festival right now, so there is a Polo match just about every day. They take place at the polo ground, which is basically a giant sandlot with stone walls around about half of it and giant concrete steps around the other half that are used as bleachers. The goals are around 20 yards away from the end of the ground and there is an out of bounds area behind the goals, but other then that everything else is in play. This makes for interesting action because there are garbage cans, porta potties, a water truck, parked cars, scooters and a lot of the spectators on the playing field. So when the ball goes near the side walls there are usually people running for their lives, and then several horses gallop in to try to dig the ball out from under a parked car or whatever.

The first match that Nisha and I went to we were some of the people standing on the field, near the bathrooms, so for a while our plan was to run into the 3 foot wide space behind the bathroom every time the ball came near us. This plan fell apart when we ran back there to see the ball sitting at our feet. We proceeded to run like hell as a Ladakhi on a horse charged in behind the bathroom swinging a polo mallet. Needless to say next match we sat up on the concrete bleachers to watch the chaos from a safe distance.

The crowd is actually pretty big (about 1000 people I would say) and mostly locals, including quite a few monks in full dress. In the second match we saw, in addition to a close 4-3 game, an old monk and a dog nearly get trampled as they tried to cross the field, as well as numerous crowds of people running from a gang of horsemen. Quite entertaining.

- Today I rented one of the beater mountain bikes and decided to ride up the valley out of town. I looked at the map and saw that there was a high pass road back there, so just figured I would go uphill for as long as I could and then coast on back.

Little did I know that I had actually started riding up the worlds highest moterable road. I rode up this pristine ribbon of pavement for about one and a half hours, up to an elevation of 4300m and then coasted back in around 20 minutes. The road was a steady 5% grade (approx.), so the biking was not actually that difficult, but the views were incredible and there were only about 10 cars on it the whole time I was back there.

I was a little disappointed to have to turn around, but I was out of time and out of water. However, when I got back I found out that the pass is at 5600m, so I was only about half way there. Also, in a few KM up the road I would have had to show my inner line permit, since the pass is close to China, so I would have had to turn around anyway.

HIGHLIGHTS

- The landscape here is really incredible. The place is naturally a barren desert. But, in every valley a glacier fed stream runs, and these have been diverted to make the towns in the valleys appear like Tuscany. The towns have cute little fields with barley and livestock as well as tall skinny trees and well kept houses. Then at the edge of town, back to desert. The effect is stunning.

- This is one of the least congested and best kept parts of India. It is still India, but the problems of dirt, overcrowding and petty crime are as under control here as they will ever be.

- Food here has been quite good. Although every restaurant tries to serve at least 5 cuisines, from a list of Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Italian, Continental and Israeli. They have been pretty good, but a little specialization would be in order. A lot of restaurants have rooftop terraces as well.

LOWLIGHTS

- It is pretty touristy. The center of Leh is crawling with tourists, mostly of the weird European variety. There is real stuff for the real people here, but in the center of town you would think that only stores are ones that sell pashminas and trinkets for tourists.

- This is a difficult place to see for a few days because of the altitude. Nisha and I are really only starting to feel normal up here, and we have been here a week. This is probably not that big a deal for people who slowly come up the road, but it is an issue when you fly in.

- It is a pain to get here. We were planning on taking buses and trains out, but it takes around 4 days of travel, not including stopping in the towns on the way to get back to Delhi. So in the end we ended up flying both ways, which was more then we wanted to spend.

So, overall I would recommend this as a place to go, for those with the time and the money. But it is really more on an adventure sport playground then the real India, for whatever that is worth.

I'm a flatlander!

As Ian stated in his last entry, we left for a 5 day trek on August 30th with 2 other Americans we met. We felt like we had acclimatized well enough by taking it easy for 2 days in Leh (3500m) when we first got here. I wasn't out of breath any more when I walked up the flight of stairs to the hotel. No dizziness, no headache, no nausea, no signs of altitude sickness. So we set off early in the morning. See Ian's account of the first 2 days. The views were stunning, the locals were welcoming, trekking wasn't too difficult the first day, and the campsite comfy, but rustic.

However, sometime during the first day, I began to suffer from a cold - the kind requiring vigorous nose-blowing every 5 minutes or disastrous sneezes. This didn't really become a problem until the second day of trekking when we trekked from 3400m to 4300m (14,100ft). Around the 3800 mark, I felt like I was breathing with a pillow over my face. I slowed down to moving one foot with every 3 breaths, breathing about about 25-30 times per minute, like running at full speed at sea level. Walking was miserable since I was dizzy with blurred vision. Drinking and eating were exceedingly difficult since I couldn't breath during those activities. Ian was right there though, making sure I did. We did eventually get to the campsite, this one more barren and cold than the first since the smaller river could not support vegetation here.

After a long and cold night, the night temperature here being around -5 C, Ian and I decided that it would be best for me to go back to town on day 3. I was loathe to do this, because it would mean admitting defeat. However, it was evident that I could not go over the pass at 5000m since I could not walk up a 10m hill. So I conceded and agreed to the guide walking with me back down to the first campsite then catch a car to town. Ian was to continue on with the group.

The morning of day 3, I left with our guide, one bottle of water, and a lunch box down the valley. Our plan was to walk to the campsite of the first night where there is generally a car that may take one to Leh. Walking down the valley was tough, but it was morning and we went at a slow pace. I wanted a car to be there sooooo badly I began praying the only prayer I know, the Lords Prayer. I must have said a hundred times while walking. Please God let there be a car, please God let there be a car, Our Father who art in Heaven..... We get to the first campsite after walking for 3 hours, and lo and behold, there is a car! Showers, toilets, and tissues, oh my!! To my ultimate dismay though, there was no driver. So I figured I have to start praying for a car and driver, not realizing before that God was so sarcastic and literal. Please God let there be a car and driver, please God let there be a car and driver. Our Father who art in Heaven, Our Father who art in Heaven.... At the next campsite, there is another car!! Showers, toilets, and tissues, oh my!! This time there is also a driver. However, there was no gas!!!! That's it, I realized again why I was finished with the Catholic church years ago.

I'm now getting very tired as the sun is high. Any indecision I had about coming down the mountain is gone now as I know that if I had pressed on over the pass, I would have to be unceremoniously carried down. I'm dizzy again and feeling like I will fall to my knees with every step. This doesn't improve when the guide tells me that we have to walk the 3.5 hours in the blazing desert sun to Spituk for the next car. It takes a supreme amount of energy to just get one foot in front of the other. I can't breathe, I can't see, I'm thirsty with no water.

Another hour or two go by like this. I can only keep walking by tricking myself that there is some dire emergency I have to make it to Spituk for. In my delirium, I begin going though people in my life who would warrant such an effort, conveniently I don't remember the particulars. I am about to tell that guide that I cannot go on until dusk when a car rounds the corner. The car driver says that he will make a drop off then come back to pick us up in two hours. So we wait in the sun. Fast-forward 3 hours, and I am back in our hotel, though still unable to breathe. A 12 hour sleep, some azithromycin, and lots of water later I feel much better.

What happened? I though of this many times while walking down. The combination of small lungs and rushed acclimatization already put me back. However, the bronchitis really snatched the last of my pulmonary reserve away. Also when you are up there, you start thinking of all the other things it could be - could I have the dreaded high altitude pulmonary edema? Now it's easy to say no now, since it's rapidly fatal. But up there, when you are panting while laying on your back in the tent, days away from the nearest large hospital and slightly delirious, it's hard not to worry.

It wasn't all bad. Again, the views were stunning and we will post pictures at the next place with a better internet. The people amazingly hospitable (the trekking coordinator came to check on me this morning). The camping was fun for all the reasons Ian outlined. My belt grew longer by a few inches over the last few days. I learned that I must listen to my body more and give altitude the respect it deserves. I also realized - I am a flatlander, sea level at that.