Heaven on Earth
Our flight started at right time from Delhi. Breakfast was served immediately. We had not even finished it when we noticed the approaching Himalayan peaks. They looked bare – no greenery at all, and of course, no signs of any habitation. Soon we were flying over the snow-capped peaks. The weather was very clear and we could not take any snaps of the silvery cotton-balls that the clouds look like from above. But the peaks were compensation enough. We had not even satisfied ourselves with the camera when the landing announcement came. It was only 7:30 am, and hour and ten minutes since we had left Delhi. The outside temperature was reported to be 2 C and it almost gave us a shiver. We took out our jackets and came down the stairs.
It was as if we had landed in heavens. Snow-capped peaks all around and a clear sky surrounded us. I assured myself that we were going to enjoy the place. At the airport, Mr. Wang Chuk, manager of the Shamba-La hotel, welcomed us. We were taken to the hotel in a taxi. The Shamba-La, meaning “Heaven on Earth” was once Oberoi Shamba-La. But when tourist inflow declined, the Oberois discontinued their association with this hotel. It is about one and a half km from the airport and is away from the hubbub of the town.
The terrace of the hotel presented a beautiful view of the mountains. In an adjacent house there were many apple trees laden with ripe apples. How red and inviting they were! A young little Ladakhi girl was busy in the garden. She readily gave us a perfect and innocent smile.
We immediately wanted to go out and roam around but we had to take precautions, else we could have suffered from AMS, or Acute Mountain Sickness. It occurs due to a sudden change in the altitude. You have to acclimatize yourself with the local weather by taking complete rest for at least a day. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to take even little strain. The oxygen levels and temperature are much lower compared to the plains. So blood circulation and breathing gets difficult. In such a condition, straining oneself can be dangerous and can result in severe headaches, body-aches, fever, breathlessness etc. So we were told to let our bodies adapt to the air first.
However, it was difficult to stop myself. After a couple of hours, I came out and roamed around. I went up to a stream flowing nearby. I hadn’t seen purer water than that, I thought. I walked for some time and came back. And I paid the price for the liberty I had taken. I was starting to have a headache. Two Dispirins and a tea helped a little.
We had lunch at Shamba-La itself. It was good hygienic stuff but not very tasteful. Vipin said we would have dinner in the town. We were also thinking of an alternative place to stay because Shamba-La was almost Rs 1000 a day. In the evening we went to town and saw some hotels. We saw Galdan Continental and Yak-tail and decided for the Yak-tail. We had dinner at a Punjabi restaurant near Yak-tail. The food was tasty, but very fatty – typical dhaba stuff. We came back and settled down to sleep. After about two hours I got up with severe headache. I took another dose of Dispirin and tried to get some sleep. For about two hours of so, I couldn’t. After that when I finally did sleep, I got up only at 6:00am with quite some relief.
Our flight started at right time from Delhi. Breakfast was served immediately. We had not even finished it when we noticed the approaching Himalayan peaks. They looked bare – no greenery at all, and of course, no signs of any habitation. Soon we were flying over the snow-capped peaks. The weather was very clear and we could not take any snaps of the silvery cotton-balls that the clouds look like from above. But the peaks were compensation enough. We had not even satisfied ourselves with the camera when the landing announcement came. It was only 7:30 am, and hour and ten minutes since we had left Delhi. The outside temperature was reported to be 2 C and it almost gave us a shiver. We took out our jackets and came down the stairs.
It was as if we had landed in heavens. Snow-capped peaks all around and a clear sky surrounded us. I assured myself that we were going to enjoy the place. At the airport, Mr. Wang Chuk, manager of the Shamba-La hotel, welcomed us. We were taken to the hotel in a taxi. The Shamba-La, meaning “Heaven on Earth” was once Oberoi Shamba-La. But when tourist inflow declined, the Oberois discontinued their association with this hotel. It is about one and a half km from the airport and is away from the hubbub of the town.
The terrace of the hotel presented a beautiful view of the mountains. In an adjacent house there were many apple trees laden with ripe apples. How red and inviting they were! A young little Ladakhi girl was busy in the garden. She readily gave us a perfect and innocent smile.
We immediately wanted to go out and roam around but we had to take precautions, else we could have suffered from AMS, or Acute Mountain Sickness. It occurs due to a sudden change in the altitude. You have to acclimatize yourself with the local weather by taking complete rest for at least a day. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to take even little strain. The oxygen levels and temperature are much lower compared to the plains. So blood circulation and breathing gets difficult. In such a condition, straining oneself can be dangerous and can result in severe headaches, body-aches, fever, breathlessness etc. So we were told to let our bodies adapt to the air first.
However, it was difficult to stop myself. After a couple of hours, I came out and roamed around. I went up to a stream flowing nearby. I hadn’t seen purer water than that, I thought. I walked for some time and came back. And I paid the price for the liberty I had taken. I was starting to have a headache. Two Dispirins and a tea helped a little.
We had lunch at Shamba-La itself. It was good hygienic stuff but not very tasteful. Vipin said we would have dinner in the town. We were also thinking of an alternative place to stay because Shamba-La was almost Rs 1000 a day. In the evening we went to town and saw some hotels. We saw Galdan Continental and Yak-tail and decided for the Yak-tail. We had dinner at a Punjabi restaurant near Yak-tail. The food was tasty, but very fatty – typical dhaba stuff. We came back and settled down to sleep. After about two hours I got up with severe headache. I took another dose of Dispirin and tried to get some sleep. For about two hours of so, I couldn’t. After that when I finally did sleep, I got up only at 6:00am with quite some relief.
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