Day 3: Next day, Chhetan came after breakfast to take us to Khardung-La as planned. It is the highest motorable road in the world, at 18380 feet! We went to the District Development Office for collecting permits. Anybody wanting to go to Khardung-La and other such sensitive places has to take permission from the Leh District authorities. We took permits for Khardung-La, Pangong Lake, Chumathang and Tso-Mo-Riri. It took us about half an hour to get the permits.
We left for Khardung-La at about 11am. The first TCP or Traffic Check Post was at Ganglas and one was at a place called South Polo. Like North Pole and South Pole, Leh has two places called North Polo and South Polo, which are both high altitude points on two opposing mountains, so Chhetan told us. On the way, we saw a school with the children playing in the huge playground. What a magnificent setting it was for a school! The road up to South Polo was okay, but from South Polo (12000 ft) onwards it was only a jeep track and was in a bad shape. Moreover, since the air became thinner as we went higher, we both started feeling a bit dizzy. Chhetan said this was expected as he himself was feeling so. It became quite unbearable by the time we reached the top of the La (the pass). We had reached the highest motorable point in the world. We managed to stay there only for a few minutes. There was a glacier too that we saw. We also witnessed a cruel scene – something that I will remember forever. We saw some laborers getting down from a truck. Most of them were from eastern India and were wearing only lungis and slippers and shirts. In such extreme cold where even daytime temperatures were –10C, these people had only this much to protect them! And above that they were supposed to also work. It was truly pathetic. Contrast it with us – we had layers of warm clothing all over to be there to enjoy it all for ten minutes! We could not stay at Khardung-La for long because breathing was difficult and it was too cold. Besides, standing in the open was very difficult due to the chilly high-speed winds.
By this time I was feeling quite nauseated. I had a terrible headache and I wanted to reach the guesthouse as soon as possible. Immediately after reaching the main bazaar, I vomited everything I had since morning. This, however, did give me some relief from my headache. We took some honey-lemon tea in a restaurant before going back to our rooms to rest. Vipin was also not feeling well. He took some medicine as well.
We left for Khardung-La at about 11am. The first TCP or Traffic Check Post was at Ganglas and one was at a place called South Polo. Like North Pole and South Pole, Leh has two places called North Polo and South Polo, which are both high altitude points on two opposing mountains, so Chhetan told us. On the way, we saw a school with the children playing in the huge playground. What a magnificent setting it was for a school! The road up to South Polo was okay, but from South Polo (12000 ft) onwards it was only a jeep track and was in a bad shape. Moreover, since the air became thinner as we went higher, we both started feeling a bit dizzy. Chhetan said this was expected as he himself was feeling so. It became quite unbearable by the time we reached the top of the La (the pass). We had reached the highest motorable point in the world. We managed to stay there only for a few minutes. There was a glacier too that we saw. We also witnessed a cruel scene – something that I will remember forever. We saw some laborers getting down from a truck. Most of them were from eastern India and were wearing only lungis and slippers and shirts. In such extreme cold where even daytime temperatures were –10C, these people had only this much to protect them! And above that they were supposed to also work. It was truly pathetic. Contrast it with us – we had layers of warm clothing all over to be there to enjoy it all for ten minutes! We could not stay at Khardung-La for long because breathing was difficult and it was too cold. Besides, standing in the open was very difficult due to the chilly high-speed winds.
By this time I was feeling quite nauseated. I had a terrible headache and I wanted to reach the guesthouse as soon as possible. Immediately after reaching the main bazaar, I vomited everything I had since morning. This, however, did give me some relief from my headache. We took some honey-lemon tea in a restaurant before going back to our rooms to rest. Vipin was also not feeling well. He took some medicine as well.
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