week 19 logs +

ok got my weeks all mixed up. but...

Day 127 aug 28 fri
Leh
14km – 12819 kms
Wake up to a glorious morning. Get coffee and update logs for the last couple of days. It’s difficult to get back to keeping daily logs; have to update 3 weeks worth now. Daunting. Go with Karn to main market and find a doctor to get his stomach bug checked. Walk around trying to locate a Tibetan medicine doctor. No luck. Have breakfast at Neha Sweets – good stuff, except they macrowave the gulab jamun. Head back to the guest house and sit in the sun chitchatting.

Retire to the rooms and copy films from Karn’s hard disk. Laze around, oil body and hair. Bathe in hot water – feels like finally the dirt is gone. The lice have gone too! Hallelujah – no more scratching the head wondering what’s wrong. Thank you Pearl.

Get ready to go to the Stupa to watch sunset, but it’s too late. Stay back while the rest go to the Confluence festival. Show Megan photos from Kanyakumari to Mandu. She’s been in the country for 3 months, but only in Jharkhand, and now Delhi and Manali. Go for dinner, eat and get back. Logs not updated completely. Will update logs tomorrow.

The gang comes back from the festival and we congregate and chit chat about events – Omar Abdullah grooving, Talvin Singh, hippie chick flashing. Pearl has some new stories about Tibetans and her taxi ride. Talk till 1 till we all pass out.


Day 128 aug 29 sat
Leh
16km – 12835 kms
Brisk morning. Teach Karn and Megan Kapaal bhaati and Anuloma Viloma. Pearl joins in. Do autosuggestion shavasana for them. Do random things. Internet lunch I guess. Mind is still in freeze mode.

Evening head out with Karn for the Confluence – 1500 for 4 hours is super expensive, but what the hell. Get there to see a big wide place with stalls and 2 stages spread over the field. Get our carbon footprint calculations done by these two ppl from Bangalore who are volunteering for something called www.no2co2.in. Mine is less than Karn's :D

Meet the rest of the gang and settle down to listen to the acts. Terracotta was outstanding. The others were ok. Overall festival was poor, but the acts were good. Hardly any crowd and most were volunteers. Who wants to pay 1500 bucks a day.

Day 129 aug 30 sun
Leh
0km – 12835 kms
Girls head to PTso. Wake up at 5 and send them off. Pearl gives her media pass to go for the fest. go back to sleep and then chill the entire day at the GH only.

Day 130 aug 31 mon
Leh
0km – 12835 kms
It’s rained last night. Wake up but don’t leave the bed. Right wrist is aching; probably slept on it. Stay in bed and watch multiple films. Usual symptoms of stonedness – sloth; but beyond that a bit lost in the head. Similar to post mysore walk. Everything is distant.

Afternoon some chitchat happens; wander in and out of it. Megan is leaving tomorrow, so we go out for dinner. Walk the long walk to the restaurant. It’s drizzling now too.

Day 131 sep 1 tue
Leh
22 kms – 12857 kms
It’s the annual Ladakh Festival today. It begins with a parade from Chubbi and ends at the Polo ground, via the main market. 15 days of events at different centers on faith and commerce in the Ladakh plateau.

Check email at the only place that has Internet in Leh and head to the Polo ground. The sarkari speeches are on, with everyone trying to get a better spot.
Photos
Palace
Limping cyclist
Leh roads
Evening with drawing pearl, fresh apples
Pearl wants to go to Thiksey
Dinner at kc - move 4 times – purab
Films sleep

Day 132 sep 2 wed
Leh - Thiksey - Leh
44 km– 12901 kms
Wake up and feel more in tune with the world. Import photos from the last few days and am dismayed at the photo sorting that is pending. Since Delhi, my daily practices have stopped. I think the only practices I follow now are the bhakti yoga and vegetarianism. Feel real bad; it’s time to restart my kriyas. Let what happens happen. If I have to stop the trip and stay still at one place, I will.

Meet Pearl for breakfast – parathas made from veggies from the garden. Meet a couple of brits and give them gyan on where to go. I find it my duty now to guide people who are out to visit India. Have a brief convo on the pros and cons of LP. I am firm on the view that it’s a good starting point and after that you talk to different sets of locals- different sets coz lots of locals haven’t the faintest idea. Most have always traveled by buses, so know only the main routes, not the shortcuts etc. The best help is from middle aged to old. The Brit’s friend wants to do Nadi! Tell him about Vaitheswaran Koil and give them two garlic pods to accelerate their AMS recovery.

Leave for Thiksey. Fill air and fuel. Don’t take helmets so it’s a slow ride. Stop at Shey and climb the little hill to take top view of the stupa field. Try to find someone to ask what it is, but no one around, except worker taking dump.
Head to Thiksey and reach the monastery. It’s a visually Ok monastery, but then they are not there for our entertainment. Walk up, around, and see the sights. A huge Buddha in dhyan pose looks at you in this small room. Can’t use flash which is ok. Also can’t pose with the Buddha. Even pictures of the Buddha are holy stuff. All these rules about God. Wonder what Buddha would have said about this. Occupy myself taking photos. A peculiar disenchantment with religious structures has set in. Maybe it’s the huge number already visited, seen, and understood.

Head back and do round of Leh before heading back to hotel. Meet Juma and fix time for service of bike – tomorrow 9.30 a.m. Meet Karn on the way to lunch. Dump stuff at hotel and head to Wonderland for lunch. Poor breakfast and all this cold has made me super hungry, not to mention the #. Gulf down an entire pizza and then the remainder of Karn’s lunch. Head back and crash watching Roma. Woken up in the evening for next meal. Clean up and head down with Pearl. Meet the gang and have soup – can’t eat anymore. Everyone sits and practices the regal wave – Asha does it well – wrist wrist elbow elbow. Joints are rolled and passed around. My maal is almost over and I am glad for it. Time to switch from charsi to kriyawit; though I do write much better when high. Time and place for things?

Head to Bon Apetit for dessert. Pearl meets a friend Sethi something, who’s an NIDian who’s helped design this place. Pearl - Ananya’s common friend. Purab’s been raving about Hello to the Queen. It’s a fab ‘fancy’ place. HTTQ is nice, but then again I’m not a sweetie. Gawk at the almost full moon with its halo and Venus by its side. Walk back, say byes to Purab and Ashu. Ride back with Karn in the now cold cold night. Copy photos for Pearl and retire for the night.


Day 133 sep 3 thu
Leh
Pearl and Asha leave at dawn. Wish them safe passage and fall back asleep.
Sms comes – flight cancelled – they come back – full gang – go army shop shopping – pick up magic gloves, amry balaclava, and wool socks - lunch at wonderland – cold drizzly -11 deg at 2.30 pm – go to juma – get lift back to market – walk to GH – bhang and mush for ashu – head to bon apetite – whole Bombay gang inside rest – meet prateek – full respect for ananya – eat sizzler – chit chat – moon clouded – walk back - sleep

Day 134 sep 4 fri
Gang leaves – go in car – awesome snow cap with stupa in fore – drop at airport- get ride to juma – shops closed- back to hotel – routes disco – chilling - tell driver to come evening – chill – talk to prabhat 27 shillong – goa 9 k, work here, barren to green to barren – kashmiri flowers - friendships loneliness – vs. shillong – special leaf (taan – kashmiri pata for dinner) – meet Shams - eat lunch at gh – watch mad max 2 – sleep lots – evening wake up – wait for cab – no sign – ask galwan – shops still shut – stay back indoors COLD – hang with shams – stories – routes in arunachal – zero – along – pangim – siang river entry into India cliffs – tawang la entry stretch – eat sumptuous dinner with Taan - madmax 3 – madmax 1 – COLD sleep

Day 135 sep 5 sat
Cab comes at 9 and head to Juma to pick up bike. Stop at ATM. As usual long lines. Have convo with a guy from Buldana. General TP. Himmat comes up again. Get inside ATM and have heart attack – of 20k, can only take out 2.5k, rest ICICI has mod balanced. Wont even be able to cover leh bills. Head to Juma. Bike is ready, but get bad news. Seems there is tension on the Tibet-china border, so chushul and hanle will be inaccessible. Head back with bike. Pick up a 10 ltr can.

Back at the room, call ICICI from Karn’s phone. Seems some credit card ka payment ke liye – they say transfering me to CC dept, but after wait, comes back to main menu. Chuck it and head to market to have brunch. Neha sweets ka veg thali and some Internet. Do jugad for some floating cash. I’ll have to whore my ass off to repay my friends, but atleast I’m still solvent. Don’t even have a trustworthy bank account now! I guess ICICI waited? For a year before jamming my ass. Head back watching the snowcaps increasing around leh. Talk to Galwan about recent turn of events – how Leh is turning into Srinagar – how if China decides, they will reach Leh within a day – how much it will cost to rent a small place for a month here. He comments on my white lips – tells me to put cream or something! I must look a sight. Go fish out Pearl’s baby oil and lip it. The coconut oil I have melts for like 10 mins daily – if I miss that window, no oil for me. Snuggle inside blanket and watch film. Plan ahead unsure – we decide that its better than Karn heads straight for Uttarkashi, despite bleak chance of getting into NIM.

Around 5, head to market and ATM again. The usual 30 min wait outside the SBI atm. Idiot car parker knocks over Chughun. No harm done to bike. Person behind us strikes convo. Turns out to be a mountaineer,Avi, who’s done basic mountaineering course and is going to scale the not-so-technical but 20k ft high Kangri? peak (highest around Leh). Keeps taking till our turn to ATM. Karn and I withdraw money – one deposit has come through. Go to have tea with Avi – tells us lots of stuff about mountains, mountaineering, his trip with army help to Leh, and life back in Indore. Promises to send photos of successful scaling.

Karn and I head to Internet; chat with amanya. Chats with her are the best part of my days. Karn says that’s why I’m married to her. No idea when we will hook up together. Very keen on North east this year end. But don’t think it will happen. Update logs after 5 weeks! Lets not start on photos. Maybe when in Spiti. Talk about the prohibitive cost of mountaineering. Book Manali bus ticket for Karn. Head back and watch Gran Torino. During ‘interval’ head to Wonder land and have Chinese (fuckers. app. Helidropped food packets on some villages near Pangong – hence the tension) food. Pick up Pearl’s food bag from the shop they left it behind. Bag is full of sunflower seeds from TN. Crazy here we are eating cashews from Goa and sunflower seeds from TN; well also fresh apples from the tree! It’s fucking freezing. Head back, watch the rest of Gran Torino. Prabhat hangs with us for a while. Sleep eventually.

At 4.30 Karn wakes me up. Layer myself and go drop him at bus stand. On return, fingers start burning, despite gloves. Manage to park and crawl back into bed. Have a plan of action in head – marsimek la attempt, then head north and route back towards HP via Anantnag, Doda, Chamba. For the first time on this trip, have started thinking about ‘travel writing’ instead of just the logs. Have a lot of material not in the logs, but don’t knoÂw where to start. It’s not like I have any political or cultural angles. Mataozm has been the longest random impulse. Lets see what happens.

Day 136 sep 6 sun
Don’t remember. Went up to the Stupa.

Day 137 sep 7 mon
Market – oil - Welding – shams ideas – talk – blown – sleep – party – paragliding –AP – Surfing -

Day 138 sep 8 tue
Welding – third time I’m coming. Wait again. But happens. Internet – try to find our scene about travel writing – Smriti gives tips. ppl shocked that I’m still on trip – shams talks about his plans – forge ktop permit – Am thinking of them on Stok-Kangri

Day 139 sep 9 wed
Leh – Ktop – Leh
Have breakfast and leave – 3 bikes – Shams happy am coming – Am designated ridemaster – Ride up – dramatic views – keep stopping. Have one snowball fight with Yoran. Reach the top. Yoran and Shams eat. Meet 5 mumbaikars from RCF on unicorns who have done bbay- ktop in 9 days. Am instant celebrity. Take photos with me! Walk up and take photos. Am enjoying myself, but time is passing quickly. Already on top for more than 40 mins. Yoran is falling asleep.