Coming back from the Nubra Valley we scheduled in 2 days to organise our trek that would take us out of Ladakh, through the Zanskar valley and into Himachal pradesh. We had 2 and half weeks until our flight from Delhi, the time consisted of 12 days walking, 2 days rest, 2 days in a jeep and 2 days buffer. Ryo took us to a nice cafe where we wrote out our calendar of each day of the trek, what food we would be eating and how much we thought it was going to cost. We got many mixed answers of where we could take a jeep to the start of the trek. Unfortunately it is being shortened each year by a road that so far links Leh to Lamayuru to Photoksar, the second stretch of road is barley a road but it can be driven if theres no rain. The other stretch of road links Zangla to Padum to Tsetang, again this road is also getting longer each year, so from what used to be 20 day walk now takes 12.
So after spending a day being pretty chilled, trying to decide how much nutella we'd like vs peanut butter, we went for 2 pots of nutella (we should of got 3) and a pot of peanut butter, anyway the day was really wasted. The next day was completely chaotic! We split into groups Johannas and I went to buy cooking equipment (2 x kerosene stoves, pressure cooker, pot for 6 people, plate/bowls, cups and all the rest. We bought some tough sacks and bags to separate the food, we should have bought more cardboard boxes, more large tough sacks and better string, but we got by with what we had. So that was us, Jerry and Ryo bought all of the food, the veg, pasta, cheeses and more biscuits and chocolate than you can imagine (good to have Jerry on that department) leaving Mayu to do some personal shopping and prepare a package to send in the post. However Ryo's wife Chihiro was not in a good way, after coming back from Nubra she'd come down with a fever, it was looking as though 2 members of the group were not going to make the trek. So with that on our minds it was making the day complicated, we were rushing around in a panic trying to buy everything we needed to leave the following day, however we were thinking we might need to leave one day later, losing one of our buffer days. This coupled with my onset of diarrhoea I was feeling pretty stressed. Mayu then tells me that the post office is closed (the information came from a shop keeper trying to sell her a carpet, don't trust them!!) so we couldn't send our package, but carrying an extra 5 kilos with us was not an option. We went just to double check, and it was closing in 30 mins, so I begged and pleaded for them to wait until I had the package ready, so with my stomach like a washing machine I ran as fast as I could to collect the things we needed to send, took them to the tailor to be wrapped in a white sheet and sewn (the most medieval stupid method of sending a package, but that's the way everyone does it) so with 5 mins to spare I had it ready, weight and paid for, so fucking stressed by this point, but we were pretty much ready, all we needed now was some good news that Chihiro was feeling better. We organised to meet that evening to get the news. It wasn't looking good and we decided that if she wasn't improving by tomorrow morning, we'd leave and if she was then we'd leave a day later. The next day we saw a real improvement so we decided to wait a day longer, I used this day to relax in bed and on the toilet and tried not to worry about missing the flight from Delhi.
So the taxi was booked and we were ready for the next morning, I was feeling almost well again and Chihiro looked much better but it seems Jerry was now suffering. It really felt like someone was trying to tell us not to go on this trip.
We arrived at the end of the road, through an amazing drive in and out of canyons and over mountain passes. Arriving around 4 in the afternoon Johannas and I walked with the driver into the village of Photoksar to try and find some four legged helpers. Within 10 minutes we had an offer on the table, 400 rupees for each donkey and the donkey men fed themselves. We paid for 7 days in total including the time it took for them to return. With that sorted we set up camp for the night and prepared dinner, the first proper meal I had eaten in 2 days. It didn't sit well, I spent the night running in and out of my tent, and to both mine and Jerrys surprise we didn't run into each other in the dark as he seemed to of been enjoying a similar nights sleep. The following day was one of the toughest days I've had in my life, I avoided breakfast because it just didn't make sense to eat, but after walking 6 kilometres with stomach cramps I thought I must eat something. The rest of the guys prepared some noodles whilst Jerry and I both laid down in the shade, I ate the noodles but it was a big mistake, the stomach cramps got worst and the diarrhoea continued. At this point I was considering to head back and end the trek there, but being in the middle of nowhere made this difficult. I saw a jeep in the distance and my heart sank, I thought maybe someone could give me a lift back to the village. Fortunately my wish could not be fulfilled, the truck had long ago broken and was out of use. Almost tearful we walked on for another hour or so to reach a camp ground I had Mayu to thank that day for putting up with me and keep me going. I wasn't worried about preparing dinner, I had a bit of soup and went to bed. Sleeping peacefully, the next day the cramps had disappeared, amazed at how much better I felt, I was so happy that I didn't manage to make it back to the village, it's amazing how negative your mind turns when you get sick. Both Jerry and I felt re born, it was a steady diet of soup and tea for the following couple of days but we were strong again. However now it was Johannas's turn to feel the wrath of whatever this virus was, and his turn was on one of the toughest days, hiking over 5000m to get into the next valley. With the aid of our new swap from donkeys to horses we all got to the next camp.
With the illness well behind me I had my head held high, thoroughly enjoying the mountains, cooking dinner together and sleeping in the tent. Our horseman was brilliant, his English was good and we enjoyed a lot of chatting about what life was like for each of us. The weather was really good to us also, but our first panic happened when one of the horses fell on the end of the second day. After falling it started to run down the hill with Ryo's bag still attached dragging along the floor, after a few hundred metres the bag fell off along with some of our food. Jerry and I ran over to investigate, it wasn't a pretty site, the bag was ripped, their tent was missing and all of our pasta was covered in broken glass. First on the agenda was find the tent before dark, but the bag was beige so it camouflaged very well and took almost an hour to find it. Next task was thoroughly washing all the spaghetti in the river, the water was so so cold, and our hands were completely numb, but the thought of swallowing a piece of glass and being a long way from help we just kept washing and re washing to make sure. So that evening we had a tomato and onion sauce, served on a bed of himalayan river washed pasta, I can highly recommend it. We had another small scare the next day, when it started to get dark Ryo and Chihiro hadn't turned up at camp, we left plenty of arrows pointing the way but it was getting dark and still no sign of them. The horseman and I put on our head touches and started walking back along the trail, I didn't want to walk too far as the trail would get very dangerous at a point an hour or so ahead and a slip in the dark would be fatal but we had little choice and I'd walked that way a few hours before in the light so I could be extra careful, the horseman Tsiring was not happy with the risk we were taking. Relief came just before nightfall when we saw a torch light in the distance, I shouted up and got a reply from Ryo. After this they picked up their pace and the following day was pretty easy.
We arrived in Padam the day before my birthday, and by chance the town near to us was holding a Buddhist festival the following day, it was much more authentic than the last we'd seen. Preparing some more food for the next stage we had everything ready again to leave late afternoon of 7th after the festival had finished. Tsiring had organised a jeep for us to take our bags and food to meet him in Tsetang, we loaded everything on the truck but were told we can't be seen getting in the car in town. With all our things in the car we found it difficult to leave and walk 15mins out of town where the driver said he could meet us, through broken English I understood that because he wasn't registered as a taxi driver he would pay a fine if caught. So trustingly we let him drive off, and 15mins later we hopped in and were on our way.
Jerry and Mayu surprised me with a birthday dinner with cake and beer, we looked at the amazing stars and went to sleep. The following days went very smoothly, the pace was good leaving plenty of time each evening for preparing dinner, and the horses were behaving themselves. By the end of it I was fluent in horse but must say I was glad to see the back of them, but not literally as their farting is non stop!
We arrived in Manali with a day gained and we caught a bus within 20 minutes of arriving, so the smells and noises of Delhi came much quicker than we thought.
Back in Delhi we went through with the plans Jerry and I had been talking about as we walked in the mountains. I chose strawberry icecream and Jerry went for the cookies and cream, we sat on Eva's sofa and indulged. And thats all from India!
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