Friday, June 22, 2007

Mission Ladakh Zanskar Siachen 2007 - Day 07

Rangdum – Sanko – Kargil – Lamayuru – Leh

Sun rises from behind Rangdum Gompa (far away from the village houses)

Night was very cold. I couldn’t gather the courage to go out for Nature’s Calls immediately. I got hold of some Hot Water (arranged the previous evening) and cleaned my nostrils of the frozen dirty mucus (This had become my daily morning chore – much more important than Brushing :D) When we got out and saw Prakash ready with the car, we found the Rest House in charge missing. We kept 150/- with the World Bikers (still inside the quilt) and asked them to give it to him.

Hari gets playful with the kids
Rangdum seemed to be inhabited by the purest Aryan race

We started our journey towards Kargil and as decided the earlier day, either we’ll stay at Kargil or proceed to Leh. There is no point going to Mulbekh where there are no comfortable Army Camps to stay :-) We stopped at Sanko for breakfast and the place was excellent (again, relative!) We were all hungry and relished the food there, although less in quantity. Our next stop was, well, the Road – the place where Construction work was going on. This was one of the primary reasons why I did not enjoy the Kargil – Leh Highway. This time, however, the stop was shorter (not more than 30 minutes) and we proceeded till Lamayuru. We wanted to reach Budhkarbu in time so that we can have good lunch there. Luckily, we did it. I planned to call Uncle that very evening to ask him about the billing procedure but I overheard somebody saying that he was on his way from Drass to Leh.

Bulldozers lage padhe hain road ki chaudhi karne...sorry road KO chaudhi karne
We visited Lamayuru Gompa on the way and spent around 40 minutes there. Prakash couldn’t find any lunch there also and we decided to stop at Khalatse. There, while Prakash had his food, I searched for Phone to make calls – most importantly to Uncle but again unreachable. And then again, the food at Budhkarbu started reminding me of itself. I searched for a place to do it but was told, that there was none. Wait till Khalatse ends and then sit anywhere behind the stone. I insisted and took Prakash with me back 3 km to the Checkpost (Batalik diversion) to answer my call. Pacified with the help of that covered pit, we returned with a couple of fellow on a hitchhike. As soon as we were about to leave Khalatse, the entire traffic was blocked. Nothing should be missed; I tried thinking on a positive side, when it was over an hour of blockage, due to a huge Army Convoy passing.


Lamayuru Gompa

It was quite dark, when we reached Leh. He dropped us at our Guest House and we decided that we would meet again at 2 PM the next day for some local sightseeing. We went inside and found that everybody was out for a party. Only Meme (Ladakhi for Grandpa) was here with the helper, Shyam Bahadur. On sending him to call Aunty, he said, they won’t return until late. Farhan and Bikiran fell asleep while me and Hari started waiting for Aunty so that something could be cooked. Finally, we decided to cook Maggi and asked Shyam to bring it. I cooked it and after having it, everybody went into deep slumber.