Day 2: We went for a morning walk; down the stream I had seen earlier. Though later on I thought it was silly of me to have walked so much after the headache – remember we still not had had 24 hours of rest. We had our breakfast and checked out of the Shamba-La. Mr. Wang Chuk introduced us to Chhetan, an ex-serviceman and now a taxi driver. When we told Chhetan about our plans to shift to Yak-tail, he told us about a guesthouse that he said was very good, and cheap. We said okay, let’s give it a try.
The path to the Ti-Sei guesthouse was not quite encouraging -- covered with cow-dung and sewage -- but it reminded me of the path to our house in my village Mandori, and so we went on. I was forming an image of the guesthouse in my mind as we were walking towards it. But as soon as I entered through the shabby looking front door, all my impressions were erased. In front of us was a garden full of vegetables – cabbage, onions – and flowers and trees. On one side was a small house, of which the upper floor was meant for the guests. As we crossed the house and came into the open field, the view we got was unbelievable! There was a vast field around and the mountains in the background provided the perfect panoramic setting you could wish for. For a moment I was jealous of the owner, for he owned a house in such a fairy-tale location.
Then he took us upstairs and showed us the rooms. The rooms were just fantastic – something like I had only seen in movies. One of the rooms had two of the walls fully made of glass windows, and was truly a room with a view. The room was simple but we wanted nothing more than this. And all this for just Rs 80 per day, less than a tenth of the Shamba-La rent! We asked Chhetan to bring our baggage, which was still lying in his jeep outside.
After a while we discussed our travel plans with Chhetan. We wanted to go to Khardung-La on Monday, next to Pangong-Tso (Tso is for lake) on Tuesday and from then on to Chumathang. From Chumathang, we would go to Tso-Mo-Riri, if time and weather permitted. About noon we had lunch at hotel Dream Land. It was the best food we had had so far. I had the traditional Ladakhi meal – momos. It is quite like our Baati (of Daal-Baati Choorma), but it can also be stuffed, like Samosas. It is served with soup and vegetables. I had only about and a half pieces of the momo. It was quite filling.
During this time, Chhetan told us his story. He belonged to a poor family of eight children. When he was only 16, he joined the Army as a driver and sent money to his parents and brothers, who did not earn enough from their farming. After his sisters were married off, he realized that he had slogged fifteen years for his brothers – who earned nothing – and had saved very little for himself. Then the brothers broke off. Chhetan left his Army job and took up driving the taxi. A salary of Rs 120 and a Rs 600 pension now sustained his family of four. He said he would hardly make anything out of our trip, because he didn’t own the jeep.
After this we went on our first excursion from Leh. It was to Choglam-Sar, a place about six km from Leh. This is where we got to see the legendary Indus River with the mountainous backdrop. The water was pure, as expected, and cold. Vipin decided to take a holy-dip in the river, but was quite afraid to go in because the strong currents. Three young boys had just finished bathing and washing their clothes when Vipin asked them whether it would be safe for him to swim. One of them readily agreed to give Vipin company! He showed Vipin how to jump and swim across. That bolstered Vipin’s confidence and he also jumped in. But he didn’t have the practice of swimming in such strong currents – he had only seen posh swimming pools of Delhi, which were hardly comparable to this. So he quickly came back ashore, though not without some difficulty.
The boys then started taking photos of each other in their traditional dresses. I also clicked a photo of one of the boys. It was painful to hear that this was the first time they were wearing their traditional dress and that too for these photos only. They then offered me the dress for wearing, which was quite a touching gesture. I got myself photographed in that. The boys were tenth class students at the local Islamia Public School.
When we had left the guesthouse in the morning, the owner and his charming daughter were thrashing their wheat crop with a buffalo helping them. All through the day, this process would continue. When we came back, the owner and his wife were removing the husk from the grains. The owner said it would take him about eight days to finish thrashing all his wheat. Being a hilly area, they get only one crop per year in June-September.
Chhetan had told us that some foreigners would be coming in the evening to take photographs of the host family in their traditional costumes. We too joined them took some pictures. The dress was highly ornamental and it is called a Gomcha. Is it just a coincidence that in my far-away village Mandori, a piece of cloth casually worn after a bath is also called Gamchha? We were offered the traditional Ladakhi tea called Susma tea. Ladakhis drink a lot of it throughout the day. It is prepared with special Ladakhi tea leaves, is salted and has Yak butter -- superb in taste and very refreshing. My mild headache vanished with this tea. The traditional Ladakhi barley beer Chhang was also offered.
The path to the Ti-Sei guesthouse was not quite encouraging -- covered with cow-dung and sewage -- but it reminded me of the path to our house in my village Mandori, and so we went on. I was forming an image of the guesthouse in my mind as we were walking towards it. But as soon as I entered through the shabby looking front door, all my impressions were erased. In front of us was a garden full of vegetables – cabbage, onions – and flowers and trees. On one side was a small house, of which the upper floor was meant for the guests. As we crossed the house and came into the open field, the view we got was unbelievable! There was a vast field around and the mountains in the background provided the perfect panoramic setting you could wish for. For a moment I was jealous of the owner, for he owned a house in such a fairy-tale location.
Then he took us upstairs and showed us the rooms. The rooms were just fantastic – something like I had only seen in movies. One of the rooms had two of the walls fully made of glass windows, and was truly a room with a view. The room was simple but we wanted nothing more than this. And all this for just Rs 80 per day, less than a tenth of the Shamba-La rent! We asked Chhetan to bring our baggage, which was still lying in his jeep outside.
After a while we discussed our travel plans with Chhetan. We wanted to go to Khardung-La on Monday, next to Pangong-Tso (Tso is for lake) on Tuesday and from then on to Chumathang. From Chumathang, we would go to Tso-Mo-Riri, if time and weather permitted. About noon we had lunch at hotel Dream Land. It was the best food we had had so far. I had the traditional Ladakhi meal – momos. It is quite like our Baati (of Daal-Baati Choorma), but it can also be stuffed, like Samosas. It is served with soup and vegetables. I had only about and a half pieces of the momo. It was quite filling.
During this time, Chhetan told us his story. He belonged to a poor family of eight children. When he was only 16, he joined the Army as a driver and sent money to his parents and brothers, who did not earn enough from their farming. After his sisters were married off, he realized that he had slogged fifteen years for his brothers – who earned nothing – and had saved very little for himself. Then the brothers broke off. Chhetan left his Army job and took up driving the taxi. A salary of Rs 120 and a Rs 600 pension now sustained his family of four. He said he would hardly make anything out of our trip, because he didn’t own the jeep.
After this we went on our first excursion from Leh. It was to Choglam-Sar, a place about six km from Leh. This is where we got to see the legendary Indus River with the mountainous backdrop. The water was pure, as expected, and cold. Vipin decided to take a holy-dip in the river, but was quite afraid to go in because the strong currents. Three young boys had just finished bathing and washing their clothes when Vipin asked them whether it would be safe for him to swim. One of them readily agreed to give Vipin company! He showed Vipin how to jump and swim across. That bolstered Vipin’s confidence and he also jumped in. But he didn’t have the practice of swimming in such strong currents – he had only seen posh swimming pools of Delhi, which were hardly comparable to this. So he quickly came back ashore, though not without some difficulty.
The boys then started taking photos of each other in their traditional dresses. I also clicked a photo of one of the boys. It was painful to hear that this was the first time they were wearing their traditional dress and that too for these photos only. They then offered me the dress for wearing, which was quite a touching gesture. I got myself photographed in that. The boys were tenth class students at the local Islamia Public School.
When we had left the guesthouse in the morning, the owner and his charming daughter were thrashing their wheat crop with a buffalo helping them. All through the day, this process would continue. When we came back, the owner and his wife were removing the husk from the grains. The owner said it would take him about eight days to finish thrashing all his wheat. Being a hilly area, they get only one crop per year in June-September.
Chhetan had told us that some foreigners would be coming in the evening to take photographs of the host family in their traditional costumes. We too joined them took some pictures. The dress was highly ornamental and it is called a Gomcha. Is it just a coincidence that in my far-away village Mandori, a piece of cloth casually worn after a bath is also called Gamchha? We were offered the traditional Ladakhi tea called Susma tea. Ladakhis drink a lot of it throughout the day. It is prepared with special Ladakhi tea leaves, is salted and has Yak butter -- superb in taste and very refreshing. My mild headache vanished with this tea. The traditional Ladakhi barley beer Chhang was also offered.
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