Wednesday 16 October 2013

HIM-ALAYA



The Himalaya ! 




The abode of snow !



Its a rich natural canvas. On which you can see same thing in many different ways as the time pass by. 



I was so awestruck after seeing the ranges of mountains, felt that it is worth to do little bit of study on how did it form. 



The lovely 'crescent' shaped beauty is crowning our country touching China, Tibet, Pakistan, Kyrgizstan with love !


The geology of the Himalaya is extremely dramatic and created by plate tectonic forces over millions of years slowly. The entire stretch over 2400 km between the Namche Barwa in Tibet and the Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, are the result of an ongoing orogeny— the result of a collision between two continental tectonic plates. 



Continuous weathering and erosion has given the shape of present gigantic mountain range. 



The Himalaya-Tibet region supplies fresh water for more than one-fifth of the world population and accounts for a quarter of the global sedimentary budget. 



This is the Indus and The Zanskar river confluence which wrap around the mountains and flow through a vast area. 



Few facts make the Himalayan range very special. Nanga Parbat uplifts around 10 mm per year, 2-12 mm erosion takes place per year, outside the polar region this is the place where the maximum concentration of glacier is seen. 



I was quite carried away by the word 'acclimatisation' without having any idea about what it means really when we visited Leh from 2 nd october to 14 th october, 2013 ! The altitude of Leh is around 11562 feet above MSL and the air is really thin and oxygen level is noticeably low which causes different health problems for different people. I was hit by a tremendous headache for first couple of days without understanding the cause of it. Then realised that due to low oxygen level and just because I'm not used to with this kind of high altitude this headache is attacking. There are several ways to tackle it. If you are into trekking then you are used to with heavy breathing techniques or else you need to take deep breathe every-time and make that as a habit till you are in this region. If the problem is severe then there are few hospitals in Leh town where you can register and they will provide you additional oxygen to breathe easy at a very low price. If there is an emergency where there is no medical facility is available nearby then one can approach the army camps which are well equiped with medical aids and they are helpful. If you want to be self sufficient then my suggestion would be to buy a portable oxygen cylinder which you can carry in your back pack and use it in case of need and it costs INR 275 only. 



But do not carry this in any aircraft on the way back home. I got to know about this handy portable cylinder quite late in the trip otherwise it would have helped early on, but I did not miss to carry one on the day of cycling. 



There are plenty of guide maps available over the internet and books and so on. If someone thinks that those are the only way to understand Ladakh then it is not the case. The topography is extremely complicated in this region to make out only through maps. Best way to know the place is, on the day of arrival itself, please visit 'The Hall of Fame' museum done and maintained by The Indian Army right next to the Leh airport. There is a huge physical model of the entire Ladakh which shows all the mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, LOCs and glaciers. They have colour coded the international borders as per different countries and that is high-lighted with led lights also. If you orient yourself with this model then you can easily understand the entire geographical positioning of Ladakh. This museum features the entire flora and fauna of the region along with photographs and names and descriptions. There are lots of write up about the history and dynasties of Ladakh which is quite informative and gives a very clear percepton of the place and its original people. There is a section in the museum where all the flags of Indian Army Regiments are displayed. I had no idea before seeing this that there are so many regiments in Indian Army as per different locations and they are recognised by different logos on their unform or flags or even the vehicles. The main regiment of Leh is 'Trissul' and it has got a huge set up accross the town. In the museum's auditorium, they keep playing couple of nice short documentaries about Kargil war - 'Operation Vijay' - the way war was fought by Indian Army is truly admirable. There is an elaborate display of how the soldiers are staying in the extreme weather conditions of Siachen glacier and what kind of clothing and tent they use, what kind of food they eat and how do they reach there etc. There is a section where many amunitions are displayed which were recovered from the war front and that includes AK47, snipper riffles, pistols, hand granade,  hand mortar, tri-pod mounted machine guns and many rare photographs - one of which shows a huge missile and on top of that written - ' with love from Raveena Tandon to Parvez Musharraf'. 


There are couple of routes to travel across Ladakh. One possibility is to fly down from Delhi to Leh and from there go to places. Other option is to fly down from Srinagar to Leh and then go around. But I would suggest not to fly down from Srinagar to Leh, instead take the highway from Srinagar to Leh which comes through Jojila pass via Drass and Kargil and  the road is really good and the nature is an eye candy. One more possibility to come to Leh is through Manali by road. 

However, we were stationed at Hotel Oriental just next to Shanti Stupa and from there we could see snow cladded Khardungla Pass road on one side and on the other side we could see the Stok Kangri mountain range which used to be a beautiful sight in the morning with all white peaks at a distance. 



When I learnt that from our hotel, khardungla pass was just 45 kilometers, first thing came to my mind is - ahhh thats nothing, I'll just take a cycle and climb up,may be in three hours or so, no big deal ! Buoy ! I had no idea about how tough it could be ! Well, after getting little adjusted with the weather, third day we planned to go to Nubra valley via Khardungla pass. Due to shortage of time, I could not bring a bicycle with me from Bangalore even though my friends had poured in with lot of informations about which cycle probably I could carry for the trip. So if I need to ride in Leh, then I need to hire a cycle and our tour operator confirmed that he can arrange for it whenever I want. For Nubra trip, somehow could not take a cycle along but on the way saw couple of people packed few cycles on top of their car and moving around - hopefully they brought the cycles on the termac too ! 45 kilometers to go to experience the Khardungla pass ! The highest motorable pass in the world. Exciting. Very very exciting. 



Before 15 kilometers of the pass there is a military checkpost called 'South pollu' and one needs to have a permit from District Collector's office to go pass this. Soon after South pollu the road completely changes its character. You start seeing snow all around and the road is really rough without the top coat of tar. This is mainly due to snow cladding and the heavy landslides through out the year. Because of the snow, to get better grip on the surface, all the vehicles tie a specially made steel chain to the rear two wheels especially october onwards and this makes the road condition even worse. Soon after South pollu, we started playing with snow every now and then and I could get the car to drive accross the pass - 18380 feet above MSL, extremely rough road, with heavy traffic of military truck convoy from the opposite direction, extremely cold all around with chilled breeze - I'm on the steering ! 



Wow ! The highest point on earth to drive a car ! It was just an awesome feeling within which can not and need not to be expressed in words. Need not, because, I want you also to experience it by yourself. 



On top of the Khardungla pass, the temperature was close to 2 degrees with heavy wind flow which was making it very tough to stand outside and we moved on after spending little time there. Since the main tourism season starts by april and ends by september, we were at the border line of getting all the facilities closed down. Normally at the pass, the local people put up few tea stalls but since the season is over, we did not get anything there. 



The other side of the pass, there is also a military check post called 'North pollu'. After passing North pollu and going down the hill, we encountered the beautiful valley of flower and Khardung village. 



Soon after that we started following the romantic Sheyok river meandering through the mountains. 



There is a point from where one road goes towards Siachen which is restricted for the rest of the people except Indian Army and the other road goes to Diskit and further down to Turtok which leads to the border of Pakistan. Diskit has a very big monastery on top of the hill. 



The monastery has a huge Buddha statue next to it which faces the vast sand dunes of Hunder region. 



Hunder has lots of sand dunes in between two mountain ranges and a different kind of double humped camels are available for rides and that is one major tourist attraction. 



The second best thing we experienced in the trip after Khardungla pass was in Hunder. After dinner, we decided to go out of the hotel and watch the clear sky. My friend Sarbadipta and Ballori were the architects of the entire trip who did lots of home work about everything and planned accordingly, me and Tanija were just enjoying the well executed plan. And Sarba and Ballori's four years old lovely daughter Anushka was the charm of the whole trip. 



Coming back to the night sky, it was one of the most amazing thing I have observed in life ! The whole atmosphere was stand still, the air was so thin and clear that one can see the clear sky with bare eyes and can identify all the stars and the most amazing part was to see a milky-way. The most clear sky you get to see from a place called Hanle which is close to Siachen but restricted for the visitors and we had to be happy with the view we got from Hunder - but it was worth ! It was not possible to take photographs of the night sky but it is captured in our minds. 

After coming back to Leh from Nubra valley, our next destination was to Tsomoriri lake which is around 150 kilometers away from Leh and the road was mix of good and not so good stretches. 



Meandering through different ranges along river and smaller lakes and suddenly opening out into a huge plane ground and then again going back to the rough gravel filled winding uphill road. 



We were stopped couple of times on the way due to construction of road. 



At one such stop I met four motor cyclists who were on their bikes from Delhi and covering the entire Ladakh before finishing the ride at Manali for twenty days and they were quite well equipped with camping equipments and mechanical tools for their bikes. 



Tsomoriri ! Situated at 15075 feet above MSL. It was cold out there ! In the night the temperature dipped bellow zero degree and we could see lot of  places water was frozen into ice. 



We played with ice like kids. 



The lake is beautiful and serene. The Karzhog village is the only habitable place in the vicinity and that too is closed for the tourist as the season is over and the water supply is discontinued due to the freezing temperature and the water was supplied to our rooms only by bucket. 



The other side of the lake is strictly for Indian Army's access to the China border which is just 100 kilometers away from this place. 



On the way back to Leh from Tsomoriri, we visited the other lake called Tsokar which has a marshy land all around the lake and you get to see lots of migratory birds in the season time. 



Before reaching Leh we had to cross the world's second highest motorable pass - Tanglangla pass at 17590 feet above MSL. 

Our next destination was Pang gong lake at 14270 feet above MSL and around 120 kilometers away from Leh ! To go there we had to cross the third highest motorable pass in the world - Changla pass at 17586 feet above MSL. 



Pang gong is a beautiful 134 kilometers long lake which is partly in India and partly in Tibet and the international border cut accross the water. 



Indian Army patrol through the lake by speed boats. It is an excellent camping place along the lake in the season time and there is a small village to cater to the need of the visitors. 



This small tip of the land has become famous after the movie '3 Idiots' couple of years ago. The climax of that block buster was shot here and in the movie a school was shown close by to the lake but actually the school is in Leh town and they have opened one cafe in the school premises which is named 'Rancho Cafe'. 



Now also this spot is favourite for various shootings and we witnessed one still photo shoot session over there. 



All these while we have been seeing very nice road signages with catchy captions along the highways and some of them are worth sharing. 


1. Experts expect unexpected
2. If you are married then divorce speed
3. Got brakes got license
4. Always be alert to avert accident
5. Remember there is always someone waiting for you at the other end
6. Three enemies on the road - liquor, speed & negligence 
7. Safety on road is like safe tea at home
8. After whisky driving is risky
9. It is not rally so enjoy the valley
10. I'm curvaceous so go slow on me 

In Leh, we visited a 200 years old house where they cordially served famous butter tea and home made liquor - it was awesome. 



They do cultivation for six months of the year and in the winter they can not go out to work. So they store all the dry food ingredients for the winter in the house and the whole family come together around the kitchen where they keep the fire on through out the day. 



This is the lifestyle of every family in the region. In winter when the tourism season ends, they keep all their family programs for the entertainment and involvement like marriage, community festivals, different sports etc. 


We made a trip to a monastery called Lamayuru which is on the Leh - Srinagar highway and midway through to Kargil just 25 kilometers before Fotula pass at 13479 feet above MSL. 



The road is superbly scenic and it goes along the Indus river uptill Batalik junction abd after that also a branch of that keeps continuing along the way. 



Willow trees add to the beauty. 



The monastery is built above a different kind of hill which is called Moonland. 




The history says that this entire region was under water long time ago and once the entire valley dried up then the monastery was formed. 



I quite like the planning aspect of the monastery among all other monasteries - it is very cozy and intimate and relates very well to human body in terms of scale. 



The last visit was not there in our original plan. We wanted to go back to Khardungla pass but since our permit was elapsed, we could not go there. Basically we were looking for a peak where we could get snow and play with snow balls. This was the last chance for me to cycle on Himalayan roads ! And I did not miss it. Went to the Leh market where I had already identified couple of bicycle shops who give it on rent. One shop called 'Summer Holidays' at the market road, had many cycles, mostly Trek 3700 and Giant of different sizes. I took a medium frame Trek 3700 and they charged me INR 400 for the day and if it is for a longer period then they charge around INR 300 per day. Filled air in tyres, took the helmet and put the bike inside the car after removing the front wheel. We headed to Warila pass. It is close to Changla pass and is at 17300 feet above MSL. This infamous pass is always deserted and the sharp turns through the valley and uphill makes it very interesting. As the road is not so good beyond the pass, people tend to avoid it for commuting and that makes the entire stretch vehicle free and we were feeling like came to a private snow cladded peak. 



The last village at the base was Serthi and from there the top of the pass was 26 kilometers. 



After halfway through we started getting snow and when we reached on the top, it was thick snow everywhere even on the road and we got to experience snow fall also. 



This was the time when I experienced the third most exhilarating moment in Himalaya. I took out the cycle from the car and assembled it quickly and got on to the saddle. 



Snow everywhere. Tyres were skidding. My first downhill climb ! It was a litmus test. 



I had no idea about how to handle a downhill climb on a steep slope which is winding every now and then all of a sudden and the surface is filled with small gravel, shards, sand and snow and melted snow ! 



The stage was poised to give me a taste of cycling on Himalayan road. 



Whatever may come, lets start and go - that is what I told myself and started pedalling. Left behind everybody on the Warila pass who were busy running jumping walking playing with the snow there, I embarked on a free fall. 



The cycle was totally new to me. Many people have used it before and it was not maintained so well also. The wet downhill road started posing varity of situations to me. A pot hole, filled with snow, looked like a solid surface, but when I rode on it, it cracked and the cycle went into a big jerk. 




Few places the surface appeared like having some water but actually it was a thin layer of transparent ice and it cracked when I rolled over it and the cycle skidded quite a bit. As soon as I could manage the skidd and get the balance, encountered with a sharp turn which is filled with gravel and sand - applying brake would have made things even worse as the other side of the road is off to the valley. 



Few stretches were long and steep where I gained tremendous speed but immediately after that controlling the speed to negotiate a sharp turn was a real challenge for an inexperienced cyclist like me. 



I know many of my cyclist friends have done this kind of riding before and I was missing them badly as that is the best way to learn having experts along side to get instant guidance to handle the situation. 



There were lots of birds in the valley and they kept flying around me and the view was fantastic - if I looked up towards the pass, it was all white and the other side towards the valley it was greenish - worth the trip and attempt the cycling ! 




I would love to come back here with lots of my fellow cyclist friends to enjoy a soulful ride experience and I've chalked out a probable routemap also ! Next time I would come with a puncture kit and a balaclava for sure. 



Three things probably have created most impact in my mind in the whole trip - driving on top of Khardungla pass, watching the clear night sky at Hunder and cycling at Warila pass. Rest of the trip also was enjoyable for every bit of it along with dear ones and will cherish the memories forever ! 





Himalaya is truely an incredible beauty and a gift to mankind from nature !