The year is 2023. The monsoon months of July and August have brought copious amounts of rain to many parts of Himachal Pradesh and Kullu Valley (where we live). A number of roads have been washed away and connectivity is seriously hampered.

We have returned from a short trip to Kazakhstan in mid-August. There was a family event for which we travelled to Jaipur and were duly back in Delhi on the 20th. There had been another deluge in Kullu region and the roads near Pandoh (Mandi) were badly damaged. Of course, Volvos were only plying till Mandi and there was no clarity thereafter on the status of any of the alternate roads. Acquaintances spoke of 8-10 hour traffic jams as a normal course of life from Mandi to Kullu and we were not prepared to get stuck in a traffic jam as it could be risky with the continuous rain.

We had come back to our home in Dobhi after the torrential downpour in July and the ordeal of changing 4-5 buses from Delhi felt like small trouble compared to the situation at hand. I called the HRTC bus guys and private Volvo operators everyday in the hope of a positive update. It was tricky to keep checking the weather predictions and try to leave from Delhi to Mandi in a Volvo, reach the bus stand at 6 am and hope for the best. The private Delhi to Manali Volvo guys had completely stopped their services while some of them were plying till Mandi.

We were getting restless; especially because of the lack of clothes as we had gone to Kazakhstan on a cabin baggage only flight and had literally nothing to wear! Every other day we would decide to leave the next day and we would get a ‘jahan ho, wahin raho‘ (stay where-ever you are) message from the HRTC guys in Mandi. It was 25th and we were counting days on our fingertips; our time in Delhi at our friends’ home was fun but we really really wanted to get back home to Kullu.

It must have happened by fluke and I don’t even remember how it came about but I saw some notification about an airline sale. A random 1-minute search revealed next-day’s flight from Delhi to Leh at INR 2000 odd and for the moment I disregarded it as a long shot. However, next day when there was no positive news of the Mandi to Kullu road, we decided enough was enough and booked our flights for the next morning.

We were pretty excited about having scored cheap flights for Leh in the green summer season of August and the fact that there were hardly any tourists there. Even though we wanted to get back home to Kullu, it was decided that we would acclimatise in Leh for 4 days and our return was planned for 30th August, which was a holiday for Rakshabandhan. I was poorly packed and did not even have a jacket but since it was summer in Ladakh, I hoped the weather gods would behave!

Read : Durbuk to Merak Village – Winter in Ladakh

It was an early morning flight and we landed in Leh with the spirit of adventure at having booked a last-minute trip! I had been a bit naive to assume that the Leh to Manali bus service was functional and was taken aback with the information after reaching that the bus service had been stopped a while ago. Homestay/hotel/guest houses were all available and this time we pre-booked a guest house because this trip had a different agenda.

We landed in Leh on a cold and cloudy morning and I was thankful that the sun was out as soon as we got out of the airport. The room was cozy and we fell asleep in no time. After waking up past noon, we strolled to the main bazaar in search of food. Leh felt like it used to be in the old days; there were no Indian tourists to be seen – while old timers from across the world were roaming in the streets. It suddenly felt like the best decision; to go back home via Leh!

Since we were not acclimatised, the walk to the market was tiring enough but I could not resist having a stroll near Jama Masjid and checking what the village ladies had for sale since it was their summer and the only farming season in Ladakh! I was in luck since it was apricot time and the tiny orange fruits were flooding the market. Among other things, there are few better things in life than tasting these alluring little beauties and one of the varieties grown in Leh (Raktse Karpo) have also been recently awarded with a GI tag.

It feels nice when your fellow shoppers are old wizened lamas. One of them also mentioned that I must buy the raktse-karpo variety of apricots that has been awarded the GI tag. The prices of apricots have really gone up in the last 10-15 years. I faintly remember that the best quality dried apricots from both the Khaltse and Turtuk (Halman) region used to cost about INR 250-400 per kilo. I was shocked to notice that in the present day the fresh apricots were priced at INR 250 per kilo while the raktse karpo variety was priced at INR 400 per kilo.

It was about 5 in the evening and a cold breeze started blowing. I bought a kilo of the apricots and got excited about seeing one of the village ladies (ama) selling a cute watermelon. It reminded me of Kazakhstan and the watermelons and muskmelons of Central Asia. The whole pavement was filled with fresh produce and I secretly wished to buy everything! Since we had had a late lunch, there was no appetite to go out for dinner again. Also, we were a bit tired and felt it would be best to return to the guest house and call it an early night.

I spotted a foreigner buying carrots and quickly got the idea to carry back a bunch of lettuce leaves and half kilo fresh and juicy carrots. The evening skies as we walked back were incredible and it had really become quite chilly. We were glad that the rooms of the guest house had a traditional wooden roof with poplars. The solar geyser had warmed up the water quite nicely even though the sun wasn’t at its strongest throughout the day.

We gobbled up the carrots like rabbits would do (get the gist!) and the fresh lettuce leaves were really fresh and tasty. A few apricots served as dessert and a good night’s sleep beckoned after a lovely and relaxing hot water bath. Next day onwards, it was business as usual as we felt well acclimatised but still decided to spend our days in Leh with the aim of returning home on 30 August. Since the tourist rush in Leh was confined to long-term foreigners, the Manali and Leh taxi unions were having a tiff about plying the current tourists and the stand-off resulted in an all-too familiar situation of confusion.

This is another part of the adventure of travelling on the Manali-Leh road – the feeling of uncertainty. The HRTC Manali-Leh bus service had been suspended due to the road issues and according to the in-charge officer in Keylong due to the lack of passengers in the bus. I found that surprising because the Manali-Leh bus had always been a favourite with foreign tourists, migrants and locals of Changthang region who travelled in the bus till a certain point.

I enjoyed doing the usual Leh things; even the hitherto touristy stuff like climbing Shanti Stupa for sunset views because there were hardly any tourists. There were everyday walks in the bazaar; finding craftspersons and artisans making pabu (Ladakhi shoes) and thigma (woollen tie and dye) while connecting with all ladies self-help groups who crafted shawls from handspun pashmina. It was nice to visit an old favourite Tenzing Dickey Tibetan restaurant for an early dinner one day, realising it was still the same tiny eatery serving home-made thukpa. We had a great conversation with a travelling Swiss couple over the meal and ended up meeting them numerous times over the next couple of days.

The night skies were a joy to walk back and we were happy to shift our stay to a nearby homestay the next day. I walked from the nanwai gali (lane of bread-bakers near Jama Masjid) and bought every different kind of bread and biscuits that they made. One of the nanwai’s made chochwor (of Kashmir fame, also called telvor) and that was really delightful. We ate our lunches at cafés that served traditional Ladakhi dishes like chutagi, skyu, khambir, drapu, tangthur, paba and the likes and relished the offerings while gawking at the surreal blue skies that invariably had a background view of Leh Palace.

To find the actual status of the shared taxis from Manali to Leh, we head to Bomb Guard area via the local bus that plies to Choglamsar. We gathered that there was no clarity and they were quoting astronomical prices of INR 3500 per person for tempo travellers leaving in the evening, travelling all night and reaching Manali in the morning next day. We were very uncomfortable with this idea of travelling in the night and tried to play smart by taking direct phone numbers of HP-01/K (Kullu) numbered taxi guys. A few drunk taxi drivers tried to play spoilsport and that was our cue to leave.

With zero clarity, we came back to Leh bazaar and opted to ignore the current problem on hand – hoping that as the day of our departure approached; we would get lucky. Two years ago, in 2021 we had returned from Leh to Manali on October 15th and were able to get two shared taxi seats in the middle row of a SUV. I continued on my merry apricot eating spree and we were happily gobbling a kilo every day and saving the kernels to be converted into a chutney back home in Kullu.

Read : Spending the ‘Lockdown’ Summer of 2021 at Yuthok Homestay, Kullu Valley

On the 29th, we decided to spend a relaxed day because in the absence of a fixed plan for our return it was important that we had the physical strength to do anything that the situation demanded. On top of everything, we had small backpacks and a few orders for Indilocal meant extra luggage. We were pleased to have a final parting meal in the evening at the gorgeous Bon Appetit restaurant in the stunning outdoor seating. The weather was crisp and there was a faint feeling of early autumn in the air.

I had called the phone numbers of the HP-01/K guys gathered from the previous day but none of them confirmed any other passengers. One of the guys had two confirmed passengers (which later turned to be false) in a Swift Dzire, but I was not comfortable going in a vehicle with less ground clearance especially after the recent rains. Once we reached our homestay, we packed our bags and paid the amount since we were supposed to go very early.

Our uncertainty reached an unprecedented level as the clock passed 9 pm and it finally dawned on us that we were on our own and that we needed to have a worst-case scenario and actually execute it. To make a last-gasp try, I called one guy whom I had not been able to contact and he told me to anyhow reach the Upshi check-post. He was positive that we are highly likely to be able to hitch a ride at the Upshi Check Post. He also told me that a bridge near Sarchu had become inoperable and the alternate route was a tad risky. Thankfully, I chose to completely ignore the above piece of information.

Keeping the heightened anxiety levels in check, we somehow called it a night and slept with a lingering feeling of helplessness and adventure! At the present moment, the whole idea of coming to Leh started feeling like a failed attempt or we had to be mentally prepared to shell out an exorbitant sum of money; all for the simple act of returning to our home in Kullu. It was a much needed rest in the night as we got up and running before daybreak and were thankful to the homestay guys to bring us a kettle of hot drinking water so early in the morning.

The weather was quite cold and the water for a shower was not yet rendered hot by the solar heater. I was relieved to find the water was lukewarm at best and not bitterly cold. The shower roused me awake and we discussed that since we have not had any phone call from a taxi guy, our only way out is through hitching rides. We were aware that buses in Ladakh plied every morning to different regions in Changthang, Nubra Valley, Kargil region from the LBOC Bus stand. The clock struck 630 and we realised that we were already running late to reach the bus stand which was a sizeable 20 odd minutes away – it felt like a herculean task with our (now) heavy bags.

A prudent and practical decision was taken to keep things simple and take it as one ride at a time and not overthink how we would travel from Leh to Lahaul Valley/Kullu Valley via hitchhiking. Public transport would be available from Jispa / Keylong to Kullu. We figured that getting out of Leh city via a local bus was our best bet of giving the taxi guys roaming around the bus stand a miss. One of the basic rules of hitchhiking is that we rarely ever hitch rides in a city, so must get to the highway. We had a brisk walk with ‘our hearts in our mouths’ moment not knowing about the timing of the bus. I had assumed it was 730 am.

It was 0707 am when we finally made it to the bus stand and there was no bus to be seen. A few touts / taxi drivers asked us Manali-Srinagar and we chose to ignore them. We saw two foreigners rushing in one direction and followed them to enter a bus. The crowd at the bus stand was sparse and that worked to our advantage. Before we could ask the bus conductor where the bus was heading, the foreigners jumped out of the bus saying it was headed to Nubra Valley and that there was another bus for Pangong Tso.

Read : Lessons of Life at Pangong in Winter

We followed the foreigners, partly relieved because they seemed to be certain about a bus to Pangong leaving at this very hour! There it was; another bus half filled with foreign tourists that stood on one side of the bus stand and before entering we asked if this was indeed the bus to Pangong Tso? We told him to drop us in Karu since we were headed to Hemis monastery and were told the seats had been booked and to take the last two seats in the end row of the bus. I was relieved to somehow make it in time as this bus was supposed to leave at 7 am and it was already 715 am. Apparently the bus was waiting for the two foreigners who had pre-booked their tickets but had not yet arrived! Thankfully for us.

The bus engine roared to life as soon as we sat and we felt triumphant at the positive and successful beginning of the day. We heaved a sigh of relief and were elated as the bus crossed the shared taxi stand in the Bomb Guard area. The bus came to an abrupt halt as we reached Choglamsar. A number of Army personnel boarded the bus and extra baggage was hauled to the roof of the bus. Two tourists from South-east Asia were the last two to board. We were astonished (cuz we had no idea about pre-booking) when they produced their tickets to ask us if they were sitting on the right seats. Apparently, they had bought the tickets from the bus stand yesterday and now the bus was jam packed.

The driver (cum conductor) refused entry for further passengers and after a 20 odd minute stop we were on our way to Karu. We counted ourselves as lucky people who had the good fortune to get on the bus before there was no more space. It was a smooth ride thereafter and with no further stops we were dropped in Karu before 9 am. The bus sped after taking a left on the road that led to Pangong Tso. The easy part of our 450 km journey was done and we had covered a meagre 37 kms! Now the difficult part lie in front of us and we crossed the circle in Karu surrounded with dhabas and eateries and stood waiting for a ride on the road to Manali.

We were beginning to feel hungry but dared not step away from the road. Today was going to be a long day and we could not afford to take any chances as there was a possibility of every car giving us a ride. The road was dusty and we kept our bags on a nearby wall and started asking for rides from the passing vehicles. Most of them indicated that they were only going only a few kilometres ahead. We endured a torrid time when an Indian Army truck convoy crossed leaving us in a sea of toxic fumes. After about 30 minutes of no luck with rides, I had started feeling a bit restless.

In my mind, I decided to be a bit more assertive while asking for a ride and jumping on the road as a vehicle neared was my latest plan. A couple of vehicles crossed and still no luck with the new bold method had us nearly rethinking our thought process. We were waiting close to the diversion point in Karu so that vehicles that had slowed down would not pick speed and that gave us a good chance to make our presence felt and hitch a ride. A car arrived like a godsend; I jumped on the road and spotted a Lama in red robes driving the car. At first he indicated with his right hand that he was only going a few kilometres ahead. I made him stop the car and requested to roll down the window.

He said he was only going to Hemis monastery; the diversion for which was hardly 2-3 kms ahead of Karu. We requested him to drop us at the diversion point as we had been waiting in Karu for more than 30 minutes and that today even short rides of 2-3 kms might change our luck. Lama Ji opened the doors and it felt like he also unlocked a lucky charm. We shared our last remaining apricots with him and the kind soul that he was – after hearing our story of trying to hitchhike to Kullu he said that he would drop us all the way to the Upshi check post. We tried reasoning with him but agreed to take the ride because today we needed the help.

Lama Ji mentioned that he was from Skurbuchan village and I shared some memories about a past winter journey in that region. He shared that he was only going to Hemis to show tourists around the monastery but since it was an early hour, it was unlikely that there was someone waiting. The extra distance that Lama Ji had to cover was 10 kms and he told us not to worry as today we really needed the ride and that he would get back to Hemis in hardly 15-20 minutes after dropping us.

We requested him to drop us at the J&K Police Check-Post in Upshi and also make small talk with the police guy to enhance our chances of a ride. The check post in Upshi is located on the Manali-Leh highway after the road bifurcates for Chumathang. For the uninitiated, the two check posts of Darcha in Lahaul and Upshi in Ladakh serve as manned police points where travellers have to compulsorily stop, enter the vehicle details and number of people in the vehicle. What that essentially means is since every vehicle must come to a halt, the chances of a conversation increase leading to massive probability of hitching a long-distance ride.

I had been lucky in the past having hitched a ride from Darcha check post in Lahaul. Hitchhiking in a truck : Stories from Nakee La

Lama Ji dropped us right at the check post and spoke in Ladakhi to the stern looking J&K Police check post officer. We had no words to thank the Lama Ji and were highly obliged and sincerely hoped that the officer would help us. In our preoccupied state of mind, the thought of taking down Lama Ji’s number did not occur to us and we made a mental note to return to Hemis and get a thank you gift next time we were in Ladakh!

We waved goodbye to Lama Ji and briefly narrated our predicament to the police guy hoping that he will assist us in finding a ride from this point all the way till Lahaul (at least). There was a young lady also sitting on a chair at the check post and there was no space to keep our bags. Little did we know, the J&K police check post guy started admonishing us saying this is a check post and it is not their duty to find rides for hitchhikers everyday. I understood that he must be used to foreign backpackers trying this tactic everyday since not everyone wants to travel on the most beautiful road in the world in the darkness of the night!

Read : Offbeat Explorations in Leh

I had not even kept my bags down and this initial conversation with the check post officer hit us like a bolt. We realised there could be no outside help and that we needed to keep a time limit in case we were not able to hitch a ride till the afternoon. No sooner as I kept one of my bags down, a private number HP34 (Kullu number) Toyota Innova stopped in front of the check post. I quickly asked the police officer if it made sense to ask him for a ride. He mentioned that this car was of a Ladakhi local. As the car guy walked out and narrated the details to be filled in the register; we blurted out that his car number reminds us of Kullu.

The car guy was a true gentleman and simply asked us ‘Chalo, hum aapko Jispa tak le chalte hain’. I couldn’t believe the happenings and double checked if they actually had the space to give us both a ride. We picked our bags and opened the boot to reveal that there were only 3 people in the 6 seater SUV and there was enough space for the two of us. We thanked everyone in the car and told them we could barely believe our luck. The clock had not even struck 11 and we were on the way, to our home in Kullu Valley.

We had only fresh local Ladakhi green peas to be shared as food and I offered the same to everyone. They offered us chocolates in return which came as a welcome delight for our starved tummies. After about 30 minutes into the ride, we felt a bit relaxed with the knowledge that we had succeeded in our endeavour of trying to get out of Ladakh and reaching Lahaul by hitchhiking. The driving skills of the gentleman were top notch and we made good time. There were hardly any vehicles on the road and the more time went by, the more we realised how lucky we had been!

Our first break was at Tanglang La : There were a couple of tourist taxis ferrying international tourists and I also spotted a Swift Dzire (maybe it was the same driver I got a call from last evening). I got out of the car to stretch my limbs and was welcomed by a freezing cold breeze. A number of Israelis on the pass were climbing nearby hillocks and making lifetime memories. In the absence of any winter clothing, it was prudent for us to keep ourselves warm and I got back to the car and we were ready to go.

It was a smooth ride and we were even making plans (in our minds) about our estimated time of reaching Lahaul and how we would travel to Manali/Kullu thereafter. As we neared Sarchu, there was a massive queue of trucks on both sides of the road and what we saw next blew our minds! Apparently an overloaded truck had broken down on a bridge in Sarchu and the only way now was by crossing the Tsarap Chu river. It was adventure at its finest and we were glad to be in a high ground clearance Innova rather than a Swift Dzire (that incidentally had to use the services of a jcb to tow it).

At first, I had thought there would be an orderly system of crossing the Tsarap Chu river but as we came closer to the actual crossing we saw that it was a free for all and that there were trucks and other vehicles crossing the river from everywhere and some of them were getting stuck in the process. A jcb guy was doing swift business, charging INR 1000 for towing a small vehicle! It was quite a sight to see the cyclists cross the river with their mountain bikes on their shoulders. This type of river crossing was only possible because the flow of water was not too much otherwise it could prove disastrous.

We had a pretty smooth crossing as the water splashed around while the entire vehicle was nearly submerged at one point. There was a small damage as the front number plate went missing in the adventure and the co-passengers joked that they would have to plan a trip to Phukthar Monastery in Zanskar to retrieve it! The closure of the usual road meant we were suddenly in sync with the truth that in the present circumstances post flooding it was going to be touch and go with regards to catching the last bus of the day headed to Manali/Kullu. It was about 2-230 pm when we crossed Sarchu.

It was a smooth journey thereafter as we crossed Baralacha La and made a pee break at one of the dhabas near Bharatpur/Zing Zing Bar. Our hunger knew no bounds but we agreed to not waste any time and try to get to the destination as soon as possible. In our case, the destination was Jispa as the family giving us a ride were the owners of a property in Jispa. I was beginning to get thoughts of how to thank these guys for the ride – was it by offering a fair price of the shared taxi ride, say INR 2500 per person? They were very kind and we were also able to make some mutual connections as they had a home in Kullu as well.

We rolled into Jispa to a glorious sun shining brightly and I saw the clock show 419 pm as the time. A brief thought passed my mind if we could stay at their cottage for the night and perhaps compensate them monetarily for the same as repayment. We were preoccupied with the notions of returning home and thought we would even take a taxi ride if there was no other way. It was decided to make a gift pack for these kind folks to repay their kindness (when we headed next this side in the future). We exchanged numbers and decided to stand on the road and try hitching another ride.

Read : The Goodness of Strangers : Self-Published Book

In the meanwhile, I was able to speak to the HRTC manager in Keylong bus stand who informed me that the last bus of the day from Keylong to Kullu would leave at 430 pm. We told him there was no way to catch that bus as we were still in Jispa and it was already close to 430. The distance from Jispa to Keylong is about 19-20 kms and there was no chance of us flying yet! We walked a little bit and decided to try our luck from a vantage point on the road located on a bend.

There was a dhaba eatery on the opposite side of the road and in the absence of any tourists, he came asking us if we needed any help and to keep our bags on the chairs outside his dhaba. We made small talk and he was delighted to know we lived in Dobhi village as his relatives also lived nearby. We told him we had not eaten anything since morning and if we had a confirmed mode of transport would have loved a proper meal at his dhaba. He understood our situation and came and stood with us on the other side of the road as a sign of assistance. We saw a tempo traveller in the far distance and prepared ourselves to stop it.

It resulted in a laughable scenario! The HP01 tempo traveller duly stopped with the least persuasion and the kind youngsters pointed to the filled seats and massive bags as they were returning after a trek and had no space at all. We thanked them for stopping and told them we will try with other vehicles. After a couple of other vehicles that crossed not bothering about us, finally a small fuel tanker guy arrived and even though the space was only suitable for one person – we somehow squeezed in and the kind driver made space for our bags.

He said that he was returning from the Army duty of filling fuel near Killing Sarai and was headed to the local depot at Tandi and possibly going all the way to Manali. We thanked him for being very kind and told us about our day so far. He mentioned that his superiors have warned him against giving trips to random folks but sometimes he takes a chance to help! It was an adventurous ride as we were going at a nice speed until the tanker guy was stopped at the petrol pump in Keylong. Apparently, there was some confusion of where he had to go and he was asked to reconfirm the status in Tandi.

At the same moment, I got a phone call from the HRTC manager in Keylong bus stand that due to the festive rush of rakshabandhan, a special bus from Keylong to Kullu was scheduled to leave Keylong bus stand at 530 pm. It was past 530 pm and even though the HRTC manager said that the bus was jam packed and that there was no chance of getting a seat, we were elated to know that if we somehow boarded the bus in Tandi, we would not have to change any more transports and could directly get down in Dobhi. Our small tanker guy had to go to the fuel depot in Tandi and we asked him to drop us at Pangi Dhaba.

The tanker guy had given me his number to tell him about our status with regards to the bus since his fuel depot was in a no network zone and for all the trouble he might actually be going to Manali. If we were unable to board the bus, his tanker might still have space for us. At Pangi Dhaba, we had a quick realisation that we perhaps have ten minutes before the bus made it to Tandi. We asked for two plates of rajma chawal as quickly as possible, made sure to pay beforehand so that there was no trouble with the rush if the bus came when we were not done eating.

We wolfed down the yummy food at breakneck speed and I even asked for a second helping. This was our first any sort of meal of the day and it was close to 6 pm. As I was having my last bite, the bus arrived and as expected there was no space at all. Thankfully, my partner had found a seat for her (ladies quota) and I was resigned to standing! While I was paying for the ticket, another surprise awaited. Since it was rakshabandhan, ladies travelled free on the day and it felt like the proverbial ‘icing on the cake.’

The conductor and driver were kind to make space for our bags in the front. I was so exhausted after the events of the day that for the first time I sat on the floor of a bus near the boarding staircase. It felt like the world was spinning and I might even have dozed off for a bit. Thankfully, the weather was mild and felt quite pleasant as we were in the midst of the Lahauli summer on 30th August. After a while, the bus conductor woke me up when a seat became available near Sissu. I was in a disoriented state and felt quite uncomfortable presumably due to a heavy rajma chawal meal so late in the day.

As we neared Manali, I was shocked to see the state of the road near Bahang. The road was gone and only a makeshift arrangement made vehicular movement possible. I was dozing off intermittently and woke up when we reached Manali at about 730-8 pm. Someone told us that this was the last bus of the day from Manali to Kullu and we could barely believe our good fortune. If any of our rides through the day had been delayed, there would have been no chance of us returning on the same day.

I got a seat in the front after Manali and the full impact of the flooding was now known with the dust flying around. The 19 kilometre distance from Manali to Dobhi took more than an hour and a half. The road had completely gone away in five-six sections and the region around Kalath was the worst affected.

We were almost in tears looking at the state of the road and the mangled remains of destroyed vehicles still in the river. Our stop in Dobhi came and we got out of the bus after thanking the driver and conductor. It was almost ten by the time we entered our house. If not for the ten minute chance for rajma chawal at Pangi Dhaba, we might have slept hungry.

It is a story for the ages. Humanity and ‘The Goodness of Strangers’ is still alive. No matter how advanced we become as a race; we will survive only if we help fellow human beings without any motive.

As I type this, life and the roads are back to normal in Kullu. When the pace of repairing the road was lacking by the government, the locals performed shramdaan (manual labour) to get the infrastructure up and running. It ensured that the apple crop that is the bulk of the livelihood for people in the valley, was harvested smoothly and was transported efficiently to different corners of India.

This is my first blog post in a few months; due to an unintended break. I am glad the old writing style is back with a journey in yesteryear style.

I would love to get your reactions on how this journey made you feel!

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We left at 1130 am from Kullu, after a hearty meal of rajma chawal and made it to Jispa by about 3 pm after a stop for shipping orders of my book ‘The Goodness of Strangers’ from the Post Office in Manali. There was a slight chill in the air as it was the first week of October and we were well prepared with our winter jackets. The landscape was still green as we crossed Solang Valley and after we emerged past the Atal Tunnel it was a completely different ball game in Lahaul. A cold breeze welcomed us and it was clear that it was going to be super cold in Lahaul valley with the wind chill as it seemed to have already started snowing on the high mountains.

We paid the SADA development fee that is being levied on all non-local vehicles for entering Lahaul and moved towards Tandi and Keylong. The autumn colours of Sissu were not at their best this year; yet with the popularity with instagram tourists it was a crowded stretch. We were flexible with our place of stay in either Keylong or Jispa but were keen on finding something with ample open spaces for us to walk around. Since there was plenty of sunshine still left in the day, we made a consensus and decided to go till the PWD Rest House in Jispa and see if they had rooms. Anyway, we would cross the other prospective options in Keylong – Jispa on our way to the PWD Rest House as it was located at the fag end of Jispa town.

The caretaker was around and recognised me from a previous visit. He said that the PWD Rest House has only two rooms and that one room is already booked for a night but both the rooms are available for the next day. We quickly asked him to book both the rooms for the next day and to show us the room available. He recommended to us to book the room and that he would put extra mattresses and since it was a cozy carpeted room, we would be well served. We agreed and requested him to check if the booking for the previous room was cancelled so that we would get both the rooms. We were quite pleased as the rooms came with an attached washroom and had a working geyser.

It felt a little funny to be spending two days in Lahaul acclimatising even though we lived in Kullu Valley. We figured that since the plan was to spend a few nights in Merak village at about 4400m, it was best to spend a few nights at 3000-3500m to minimize the chances of AMS. The wind chill in October in high-altitude areas is a killer and therefore we wanted to get used to the cold in Lahaul before the super cold of Merak. Jispa already had the feel of a deserted town where the homestays and restaurants were closing for the season and we were thankful that a lone eatery was open near the PWD Rest House. The said eatery was also going to close down in the next few days and we felt lucky!

The original plan was to head to Zanskar now that the road via Shinku La / Shingo La / Shinkun La was well and truly operational; stay a night in Padum and then move to Leh via the dirt trail route that passed through Zangla, Lingshed, Singge La and Sirsir La to end up near Photoksar and join the highway at Wanla. Since we did not have many days in hand, it was ultimately decided that the long route via Zanskar might turn out to be extremely tiring and that it was better to head to Ladakh via the Manali-Leh highway only. Local news in Lahaul also indicated that vehicles were only allowed to cross the Darcha check-post after 9 am because it had started freezing on some sections of the road to Zanskar as well as Leh.

We spent a nice two days in Jispa soaking in the abundant sunshine and enjoying the autumn blaze of Lahaul Valley. It was a memorable meal at one ‘The Climber’s Café’ in Keylong Bazaar and the nearby dhaba also made fresh food so there were no complaints. Nights were freezing cold but it sort of prepared us for even colder temperatures in the next few days.

We had a nice cup of chai and left for Darcha at about 8 am with a plan of having breakfast at one of the dhabas in Darcha while waiting for the check-post guys to wave us through after 9 am. When we reached Darcha, there was a newly constructed dhaba / restaurant just before the police check post and we decided to stop there. Funnily enough, there was no need to wait till 9 am and the road to both Zanskar and Ladakh was open for vehicular traffic. We were still in two minds with regards to taking the longer route via Padum and Singge La to reach Leh and even put Padum as our destination in the diary of the police check post officer.

The dhaba owners were from Rarik village and told us that while the road to Padum was in excellent condition; the road via Lingshed-Singge La was in fact a dirt road with a few tricky and frozen sections that would take us over 10 hours to reach Leh from Padum. Before we finished our cups of black tea, the deal was sealed and as we walked back to the car – I remembered to ask the police officer to change our destination to Leh instead of Padum in the check post register. The road past Darcha felt like a breeze and we quickly started ascending to Zing Zing Bar and towards Baralacha La.

It was a clear day and based on our previous autumn trip to Leh last October, we were keen on staying in the region of Hemis/Thiksey this time around. We made good time on the road and despite leaving quite late crossed Sarchu around noon. The weather was absolutely clear and there was nary a cloud in the deep blue sky. It was a fine day as we crossed the flat land past Sarchu and the aquamarine waters of the Tsarap Chu were flowing beneath us in the valley below. It felt like pin drop silence at over 4200m, and we stopped for a while to admire the views and the pristine colour of the water.

We opted to not stop for a snack/lunch/tea at Sarchu since we were not feeling hungry and continued towards Pang. The dustiest stretch of the entire Manali to Leh road was the road from Sarchu to Pang. There were a few sections with single lane traffic that caused mini traffic jams with a number of trucks lined up on both sides. It was sudden hunger that compelled us to stop at Pang – Pang looked like a fancy avatar of the grimy ramshackle dhabas from a decade ago! It was close to 2 pm and the eatery where we stopped was almost out of food – the lady was only able to serve one plate of semi-cooked dal and rice among the four of us.

Anyhow, I have never liked Pang and the feeling was reinforced when I tried to go to pee. There was a lake sort of water body visible behind the multiple dhabas and no prizes for guessing what the stench was like! Our friends went to another dhaba for some chowmein noodles and were quite surprised that most of the eateries in Pang also doubled up as accommodation options in the night. I was mildly shocked to know this since Pang is at an altitude of some 4600m, it is not pleasant at all to stay at this altitude without being properly acclimatised. Authorities should look into this in the light of the rules for tourists to acclimatise before heading to Pangong Tso/Changthang and other high-altitude areas of Ladakh.

We were happy to bid goodbye to Pang and start our ascent to the other passes viz. Lachung La and Taglang La. The road was in excellent condition and it was mildly surprising to see snow piled on both sides of the road at Taglang La. Of course the outside temperature was freezing and a deathly cold breeze blew. We tumbled down the pass and crossed the dhabas of Debring and I saw a faint road leading to the left side to a nomadic settlement – Kharnak. I was supremely interested in Kharnakpas and their weaves like challi, pherri, tsug-dul, tsug-den and more made from yak wool, sheep wool and the likes.

In no time we were at Rumtse and ogled at the varied hues of the mountains that were enhanced with the evening light and the rich autumn colours. We crossed the pretty looking hamlets of Miru, Gya, Lato and made a mental note of staying at one of these three villages on our way back. A night stay here would considerably reduce our single day travel time on the return journey enabling us to leave early and still reach Kullu Valley before dark. It was close to 5 pm when we crossed Upshi; the Indus river was a pristine shade of blue while the autumn colours were a shining yellow.

We had started to keep an eye out for signboards of homestays since the idea was clear that none of us wanted to stay in Leh. Hemis quickly went out of the reckoning since we crossed the diversion after crossing Upshi. With no extra help from google maps, we decided to take the right turn to Thiksey monastery and were certain that there would be a number of homestays there for us to stay. The time was around 520 pm and the sun would soon go behind the mountains. We decided to ask a young kid on the road about a homestay and he indicated to us to take a right and we would find Goltuk homestay. He didn’t seem very confident about our choice though and suggested that there was a nice hotel nearby that would be better for us.

Nevertheless, we thought lets see this Goltuk homestay and then figure our options. We took a right and saw a signboard for a homestay and asked a lady who was walking on the street and it turned out to be her home! She showed us the rooms and while the price mentioned was also ok, the rooms did not come with an attached washroom and that prompted us to ask if there was another homestay nearby that might perhaps have rooms with an attached washroom? She suggested another homestay just around the corner and we sought about finding that. It was duly spotted after a short walk and while we liked the open spaces and the garden, the host was missing and there was no one who could show us the rooms!

In the meanwhile, the light had started dwindling and it would soon be dark within a few more minutes. The cousin sister of the host came to our help and called the aunty to come with the keys of the rooms so that we could figure our possibility of a stay. At the outset, she said that we could only stay for 1 day because there was a festival planned for the next evening at a neighbour’s home. She also said that one of the washrooms had a water problem. We liked the rooms that both came with a clear and direct view of Thiksey monastery and agreed on a reasonable price for 2 days and promised her to cooperate with the meals if she could not find time for cooking! Simple breakfast and dinner was included in the offerings of the homestay.

The homestay had only two rooms and one was on the first floor and the other one was on the ground floor. Aunty at the homestay seemed to have had troubles in the past with Indian guests who were happier with mainland food rather than trying local Ladakhi food and therefore she tried to make us stay for only 1 day. I don’t blame her for her thought process because I have observed lately that the boundaries between a homestay and a hotel are blurred and happy-to-please hosts simply don’t know how to turn down demands laid out by guests. It appears sometimes that some folks stay at a homestay primarily due to the comparatively cheaper price and then take undue advantage of the hosts’ kindness by laying down demands as per their whims and fancies.

I’d say the demands / whims and fancies might be justified at a hotel but not at a family run homestay. Hence, the lady was initially wary of us but was quite calmed with our mention of living in Kullu Valley. Little did she know that we were actually looking forward to freshly cooked Ladakhi dishes and since the homestay also had an adjoining kitchen garden in the farm, most of the produce would be fresh and homegrown! Aunty gave us a quick round of tea as a welcome drink as we put our bags in our respective rooms. We ogled at the beauty of the after-sunset colours with snowy peaks in the backdrop, even as stars began to shine in the brilliant high altitude Ladakhi sky and the yellow shaded poplars stood tall in the rapidly intensifying cold while the timeless Thiksey monastery watched the proceedings quietly on the other side.

We unpacked our bags and kept the home baked zucchini teacakes and the apple cakes out so that we didn’t forget to savour them. On a thoughtful whim, we cut a generous slice of both the cakes and presented them to aunty in the kitchen. Aunty and her cousin sister warmed up the cakes and took them for the entire family to taste! We were so glad they loved it and thanked us for getting them a taste of homemade bakes. As part of the homestay culture, it is a nice thing to do to break the ice.

Our joy was multiplied upon seeing that Thukpa was being made for dinner! We entered the kitchen and traditional dining area lined with Chogtse tables and thanked aunty for rustling up thukpa at such short notice. She replied that making thukpa was no trouble at all and all she had to do was pick fresh produce from the farm. The flat noodles used in the thukpa were locally produced in Leh. We sat and gazed at the traditional cookware and collection of utensils in the sitting area. Aunty served us thukpa in the traditional bowls and I liked it so much that I had three helpings! I think it was then that aunty must have realised that we were indeed going to turn out be amicable guests who knew how to stay at a homestay.

Aunty told us that next day’s dinner would be a little difficult for her to make because of the evening function and suggested that we could dine at the nearby Chamba Hotel that always served excellent food in Thiksey. We told her not to worry and that we will manage. Our plan for next day was to head to Leh for lunch and get the car washed as well.

It became colder as the evening progressed and after the drive we chose to relax in our rooms. The sight of the dimly lit dwellings on the base of Thiksey monastery was calming. We called it a night and tried to sleep early so that we could wake up at 6-ish and perhaps walk to the monastery for the morning prayers.

It was a cold, cold night and the modern quilts and blankets were no match for the hitherto traditional warmth of the homestays. I had a mild headache and even though we had spent a good 2 nights in Lahaul acclimatising in the same altitude and temperatures – I was a bit surprised by the same. We had carried our tea masala and ginger and aunty was more than happy to let us make our milk tea. It felt nice as the sun was out and we went to the first floor balcony to enjoy our tea. We made an extra cup for aunty as well and she was so happy with the result that we let her know the secret of the magic masala as well!

The fun of living amidst nature has no parallel and we laid out a carpet and sat in the garden. Aunty said there would be basic omelette and khambir (local Ladakhi bread) for breakfast and that it would be served at about 9 am in the open canopy in the garden. The canopy lent a very Italian vineyard feel to the setting as it was covered in green with black kidney beans vines and had a sturdy wooden table and chairs beneath it. Of course the icing on the cake was the sun shining brightly on Thiksey monastery, making it an impeccable setting. Aunty’s sons were up as well and we met them too. Breakfast was served at 9 and it was fun to dig into the tiny muskmelon grown on aunty’s farm. We thanked her for letting us try a homegrown muskmelon as we were totally unaware about them growing in Ladakh!

We sat and lounged in the sun for a while but quickly realised that the direct sunshine was too much to handle and funnily enough my mild headache persisted. It was time for a hot water bath after the rigours of the road journey on the previous day. The room felt quite cold and we quickly figured that the room on the ground floor would receive sunshine only in the latter part of the day. Anyhow, I sat outdoors after the bath and was reminded of the classic conundrum in Ladakh – it was hot in the sun and still felt very cold in the shade, especially with the breeze blowing. In a few more minutes, it was time for us to head to Leh.

When we mentioned autumn colours, the elder son suggested to us to go to Matho monastery if we wanted to enjoy the full splendour of the fall/autumn colours as it was located at a vantage point. He was also kind enough to share the route by road as the route suggested by google maps had a bridge repair issue and was closed for the time being. It was a longer drive but the stunning autumn colours in Matho village and then on the way to the monastery were surreal and we were delighted to have come that side. We chose to walk back to the village from the monastery and also tasted ripe but very sour seabuckthorn berries after some locals’ insistence!

After a good part of more than an hour spent in Matho village, we continued on our way to Leh. As we had expected, the autumn colours were not as pronounced as they were in Matho. On the way, we came across a small scale industry drying seabuckthorn to make it into a pulp. I was keen on buying the pulp and even got the contact of the lady in charge of the processing, but it turned out that seabuckthorn pulp uses a lot of preservatives otherwise it spoils pretty quickly. Even though the price offered for the seabuckthorn pulp was almost half of what we get in Lahaul valley, I ended up not buying a bottle since it involved a detour to Chuchot village and there was nobody to guide us.

We were keen on having a nice meal in Leh and tried to make a reservation at Alchi Kitchen but it turned out that the Leh branch of Alchi Kitchen was closed (like it was a year ago!) and they were taking reservations for a meal in Alchi! With the change in plan, we had to find parking space at Rabsal Parking near the main bazaar and then walked to Tibetan Kitchen. It was progressing to a funny scene as Tibetan Kitchen turned out to be closed for the day; Bon Appetit felt like a confusing walk as our friends were already super hungry. So we spotted the signboard for Summer Harvest – saw a few locals come out of the restaurant that validated the eatery and decided to have our lunch there!

I still had a niggling headache and while I kept trying to forget about it, there was no denying that I was not at my 100%. The food at Summer Harvest was satisfactory and some dishes turned out to be excellent. We paid the bill and now it was about 230 pm and all of us went our separate ways. I went sauntering in the market on my customary walk and meeting my old acquaintances if they were around. The car had to be taken for a wash before we head to Pangong Tso / Merak village the next day. So, everyone had roughly 1.5 hours before we decided to meet up on the main road near the circular bazaar in Leh. It was very hot during the day and quite dusty with all the endless construction everywhere near the main road.

It was a sort of aimless walk for me – I bought some Saspola apples, drank a glass of the sugarless apricot juice at Dzomsa, tried to (unsuccessfully) buy a chogtse table, met with a known shop owner to check if they had a surplus bundle of Zanskari spuruks, perused the circular market for the indigenous black peas (shrannma or nagshranma) and bought a kilo, tasted some chhurpe, wondered what was the black cake called skotse and largely marvelled how far Ladakh has come in terms of tourism. Tourists from the cities were buying an average variety of dried apricots for astronomical prices without bothering to check the quality and taste. I never heard the name Halman (fine variety from Turtuk and the villages around the Dah-Hanu area) when I was in the bazaar.

I used the washroom at the fancy looking café opposite Dzomsa and figured that Leh had well and truly arrived on India’s tourist circuit with a bang and for raw experiences it was essential to travel to some remote locations still untouched by tourists. As soon as I got free, our friends arrived and we sat in the car. While waiting, I spotted the gentleman who was the orchestrator of the great hitchhiking escape from Diskit to Leh in a winter snowstorm. I quickly ran out of the car and after confirming he was indeed the same person – thanked him for the kindness and gifted him a copy of ‘The Goodness of Strangers’.

I was overjoyed at this unexpected meeting and wondered about possibly gifting copies of the book to some other kind folks in the Changthang region who were responsible for the experiences detailed in a few chapters of the book. We started on our return journey back to Thiksey since we were very keen on spending the evening in the farmstay-homestay. Our tummies were filled for the time being but the issue of eating dinner outside remained. We enjoyed a nice evening gazing at the colours in all the directions while my nagging headache continued prompting me to rethink if I was prepared to go to Merak inspite of this minor struggle.

In the evening, aunty was dressed up and ready to go for the evening ceremony of the nearby party. The sound of drums and revelry started coming from the direction. She asked us what were our plans for dinner and I told her that we had a heavy lunch outside and that we would be happy to eat a light meal. Aunty anyway had to cook food for the family so she asked us if we were happy with with simple pulao and we told her pulao was exactly what we needed! She quickly rustled up a cooker and all the farm grown vegetables went in it resulting in a delicious and light pulao / masala chawal. All four of us thanked her wholeheartedly for the extra effort because we were mentally prepared to go to Chamba Hotel for dinner!

I think it was then that I made up my mind that in the two days spent here, we had not even gone to Thiksey monastery and just running off to the cold of Merak didn’t sound very appealing. The added charm of seeing the autumn colours along the road via Chang La to Changthang and on the return via Chumathang was not enough to wean me off the thought of staying longer in Thiksey. It would be no fun if I didn’t feel better after reaching Merak as well. I was certain that it was not AMS since I had no issues in breathing but it was a constant mild headache. After dinner, it was decided that our friends would leave for Merak after breakfast since it would take about 6 hours from Thiksey and we would stay put at the same homestay. We decided to meet near Upshi at 3 pm after 3 days even if our phones didn’t work and we were not able to communicate.

We slept early and I made a mental note to myself to check the oxygen level if the headache persisted the next day as well. I was also keen on waking up early for the 6-30 am morning prayer at Thiksey Monastery but was also aware that we had two more mornings at the homestay. Aunty had already confirmed that we could move to the upstairs room and she would be happy to host us for 2 more days. It was a relaxed morning and I felt very nice to be able to soak in the sunshine with the perfect masala chai. Our friends left early after a quick breakfast of toasted bread and butter and when aunty asked us if we wanted traditional Ladakhi butter tea & khola or bread + butter for breakfast – we opted for the traditional option. She was pleased with our choice and laid out a carpet in the garden.

Out came two traditional goblets that were made from a specialised metal and two wooden baskets with barley flour and another with buckwheat / whole wheat flour. She mixed some homemade ghee and sugar and put the different flours in different goblets and then poured the salty butter tea on top. We mixed everything with our fingers and made the flour into small balls to eat. It tasted delicious and we told aunty that we had eaten this as khola earlier at Yuthok Homestay. We enjoyed cups of butter tea with the khola and finished off our breakfast in no time. Aunty also cut a tiny watermelon grown on the farm and we totally loved it!

After a while, the direct sunshine became too much for me and I chose to sit on the chairs but the headache had already returned. We are keen on walking around Thiksey and enjoy the magic of the autumn yellow of the poplar trees. After partially enjoying a walk under the canopy of the yellow trees on the side of the road, we decide to turn back because there is no fun in inhaling the toxic fumes of the trucks that are in numbers on this road. While coming back, I get my oxygen level checked at Hotel Chamba and it came totally fine and we quickly deduced that my headache is due to the exposure to direct sunlight. I had forgotten to carry my sunglasses to Ladakh.

We got back to the homestay and enjoyed the warmth of the mansion-type room on the first floor. I lay down for a bit and slept and instantly started feeling better. Now that the reason for the headache was largely clear, it was decided that I borrow my partner’s sunglasses and try to never look directly into the sun. We head back to the restaurant at Chamba Hotel for lunch and the food turned out to be super delicious. It is a place run by the monks and the restaurant cook/staff was from Jharkhand and made excellent food. We sat in the shade and really enjoyed the time spent here. We set out for a short walk post lunch and explored the by-lanes of Thiksey.

The library looked very appealing and was managed by the monks. We stepped inside and saw a few young students study in the warmth of the indoors. The book collection was massive and there was even a tea/coffee machine for visitors. There was pin drop silence and we quickly realised that the Thiksey library might just become our new favourite place while we stayed at the homestay. I was immersed in reading a historical book on undivided Ladakh when I received a phone call and had to go out. The outdoors had a sprinkling of blooming flowers and there was even a cute café in one of the corners. We wondered if the café would be a great hidden find when it was open during the summer.

When it was close to 5 pm and close to sundown, we decided to take the long walk via the road to Thiksey Monastery parking and while I gazed at the views on the other side – my partner climbed the stairs to the main monastery to find the exact timing of the morning prayers. The autumn colours in the direction of Leh city appeared to dazzling in the mellow evening light. I started feeling a bit cold with the evening breeze once the sun went down and opted to walk back via the road route. There were a few monks also going for their evening walk while chanting prayers and it felt nice to be in calm company.

My partner came back via the shortcut path through the stairs and we ended up meeting near our homestay and continued the walk. The sky was painted in orange and pink hues and with the moon peeking out from behind the barren mountains presented an unforgettable sight. We savoured the ethereal beauty of Ladakh for as long as the light lasted and then aunty presented us with another piece of information that made proceedings even better! She was cooking purple cabbage momos for dinner – the cabbage she had just picked up from the kitchen garden. Aunty and uncle were supposed to go to the party at the nearby family’s house and therefore aunty said dinner would be ready by 730 pm.

We were ecstatic to hear that as early dinners were a habit for us and also the fact that aunty said that she had got a bottle of local chaang for us to drink! The momos along with the fresh chutney turned out to be so delicious that we polished off the entire container of momos that aunty had made for us. We thanked her numerous times and told her that these were some of the best momos that we’ve ever had. We walked under the open skies for a bit and appreciated the moonlight. The room was cozy and much warmer than the downstairs room and that meant we slept peacefully.

The view of the sunlit Thiksey monastery first thing in the morning was the icing on the cake. We had the absolute pleasure of doing nothing but just went through the morning with basic stretching, yoga and meditation. After a relaxed hour or so, we went to make chai and also gave a bit of the chai masala powder to aunty. In return she gave us a packet of seabuckthorn tea and a sapling of the wild mint growing in their farm. We had a quick breakfast and then decided to go sauntering around to some places recommended by aunty’s younger son as he had by then realised that we were happy to go anywhere quiet where we had less chances of encountering other tourists!

We went to the road and found a ride after walking for a while. The army guy was from Bikaner and dropped us to the viewpoint past Stakna monastery. It was a memorable view of the aquamarine waters of the Indus River with the autumn yellow of the trees and Stakna Monastery with an array of snowy peaks in the background. The sun was shining with full force and after some time we had to find a shaded space to wait for the ride back. On some sections, we walked under a shaded canopy of trees and absolutely loved the raw feel of discovery. We were unable to find the park suggested and ultimately after we found a ride we were dropped at the Thiksey monastery diversion.

The restaurant at Chamba Hotel came to the rescue and we ate our lunch in the supremely relaxed setting and also made a mental note to eat there before we left for Upshi, the next day. We head straight to the library after lunch and spent a good 2-3 hours reading. I wondered in my mind how travelling is all about being flexible and the joy of these offbeat things can only be felt, and not spoken. Since tomorrow would be the last day for us in Thiksey, we walked back to our homestay and made sure of not wandering around here and there so that we could wake up early and go to attend the morning prayers at Thiksey monastery.

Aunty asked us whether we wanted rajma chawal or chutagi for dinner and we unanimously voted for chutagi! It was an early dinner as by now aunty had figured that we ate by 7 pm. The chutagi was super yummy and we thanked aunty for the incredibly delicious food. My headache had miraculously almost disappeared and we attributed it to the sunglasses and the strategic decision to not walk with the sun directly facing me. Next morning, we woke up very early and walked the stairs of Thiksey monastery in the chilling cold. The prayers started a bit late than what we were told but the feeling of calm was so beautiful, that we sat through the entire hour long ceremony. Thankful to the monks to have plied us with multiple helpings of butter tea.

At the homestay, while packing I found that the half kilo meetha karela vegetable from Kullu Valley had not been used and I asked aunty if I could make it for everyone. She was pleased at trying this exotic looking vegetable. We ate it with the local khambir bread in a magical setting under the green vine and a view of Thiksey monastery. It remains a classic memory from this particular trip to Ladakh where the objective became to relax at the homestay in Thiksey.

Later in the afternoon, we said our thanks and goodbyes to the family and started walking to Chamba Hotel for lunch. It turned out that they had just closed for the season and in the absence of any other options we decided it was better to get to Upshi and find a nice eatery there. It made sense to reach Upshi early so that our friends did not have to wait when they returned from Merak via the Chumathang route. We were lucky to find a ride within no time of standing on the road. It felt excruciatingly hot in the harsh Ladakhi sun and when we stepped inside the stunningly beautiful interiors of Rigo Restaurant in Upshi, the old memories of eating food at dusty dhabas in Upshi were washed away.

Ladakh has truly changed – for better or for worse, that only time will tell but it is still possible to have new experiences with homestays like the one in Thiksey leading the way in showcasing local farm life in Ladakh at a reasonable price. The onus remains on us visitors to embrace the life lived by the locals – after all thats why we travel ‘To become a local in every place we visit!’

We met with our friends at 330 pm in Upshi, and drove straight to picturesque Lato village on our way back. Next day, it felt like deja vu when it started snowing as we crossed Taglang La and once we crossed Baralacha La and reached our home in Kullu Valley – aunty from the Thiksey homestay called next day and told us that it had snowed and the Manali – Leh highway was closed for traffic.

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We thanked the gentleman in Nyoma, paid more than we he asked for and started walking towards the main road at around 9 am. It felt nice to walk in the sun but waiting in the shade turned out to be a difficult task. A lot of people started gathering at the two shops on the main road; and almost everyone was waiting for the bus. The locals informed us that the bus to Leh will come after 1030 am. We almost got confused whether we should head back to Leh and skip the idea of Chumathang.

Sometimes, when you don’t have fixed plans the choice of options can prove to be a daunting challenge.

Thankfully, the predicament never came to pass and we get a ride in a sumo headed to Chumathang. The scenery is surreal and the Indus river to the left is entirely frozen. It is surprising that even after spending a good amount of time in offbeat lands across Ladakh on this trip; we are in awe of the stark barren landscape near Mahe Bridge as we neared Chumathang. I am fascinated to come across a Losar ritual of the Changpa nomads, they have their rebo tents near the road. The biggest festival for the Ladakhis – Losar (Ladakhi new year) is round the corner and all of Ladakh is gearing up to celebrate Losar.

The sumo makes a few stops to drop a few locals and pick up some passengers too. It turned out to be a sort of shared taxi and we figured that we would also pay money after reaching Chumathang. We are dropped at the tiny market of Chumathang on the road at about 1230 pm and I begin my search for Zotpa Uncle at Lamying Restaurant and General Store and the aunty.

They were at the restaurant itself and aunty immediately recognised me from my furry hat. I reminded her that I had come there in July and fondly recollected those moments. We discuss the price for the room and ask her if the room would be warm or not? Uncle tells us that the homestay room is exceptionally warm and that there is running hot water in the bathroom. It felt too good to be true and we agreed to pay 1200 Rupees including all meals. It is amazing when a few more locals from Chumathang come by and recognise me from my hat!

We put our bags in the room and quickly go to the glass restaurant for lunch. Aunty makes delicious food and we enjoy a welcome relaxed time! Apparently, there is no electricity in Chumathang and the abundant sunshine will disappear across the hill at about 230 pm. I am keen on having a hot water bath (the previous opportunity was almost a week or so ago in Panamik) and locals direct us to the hot water spring bath in Chumathang. The common rooms are located on a side of the frozen Indus river and there is a big pipe coming directly from the hot water springs.

It turns out to be an ok-ok experience with the hot water as the flow of the water is not consistent and I end up having a short bath. I figure the bath is best had in our own bathroom that is with the room. The family switches on the generator and it results in an epic time to see running water coming out from a tap after what feels like an eternity. Uncle also shows us how to set the heating temperature inside the room and we are ecstatic to realise that this sort of central heating would cost more than 5000 Rupees in a hotel in Leh.

I was overjoyed to be able to experience this indigenous system of local heating using the natural geothermal energy and the thought of a relaxing evening felt so inviting!

We head to a wooden bridge across the Indus River that led to homes in Chumathang village. A new bridge had also been constructed and it seemed like locals hardly used the old wooden bridge in Chumathang. It was surrounded by prayer flags and with the frozen Indus river beneath us felt like the perfect setting. The sun had already gone for the day and even though it was nice and bright, the breeze that blew was so cold that I thought my fingers would come off!

The bridge made a creaking sound when we walked and it was fun to click pictures, make a short video and just sit on the bridge and observe the patterns of the Indus river. The houses of Chumathang village are visible and the sunlight is falling directly on a small monastery located nearby on a hillock. As it got colder after the clock crossed 4 pm, we decided to call it a day in terms of adventure and headed back to the homestay.

Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VZqpvj4HCw

The bed was super comfortable and the sheets and blankets were super clean. The room was already warm and we lie down and reflected on what an epic winter trip this had been! It felt unbelievable that the natural hot water spring was being put to good use! There were still 3 days for our return flight from Leh to Delhi and we were also looking forward to witnessing the Losar Celebrations in Leh.

We opted for an early dinner at 7 pm and as usual aunty made delicious food. There was dall, aloo-gobhi, chapati and rice and I made it a point to eat as if it was a feast! Even the restaurant was heated with pipes running through the corners. There were a few cats roaming around the area; they were home cats of aunty and uncle! We chatted with uncle for a while and thanked him for letting us stay. He also mentioned that he was constructing a new building that would serve as a hotel in Chumathang.

We went back to the room and were super surprised to see it was quite warm. I am chuckling as I write this but I change into a tee-shirt and shorts. We felt that we deserved every bit of luxury that was on offer!

A million stars shined in Chumathang in the night when the generator was switched off. The temperature close to the frozen Indus river would have easily crossed -30 degree celsius that night.

We snored happily.

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When we woke up next morning at the homestay in Tsaga, the weather turns bad and the sun decides to have a day off. Our water bottle was kept outside the room and we noticed that it was completely frozen! There is a festive atmosphere in the village and an archery competition is going to be held. A few of the locals took us to the venue, which was a covered area since the wind blowing otherwise would take the arrows anywhere.

Read the previous posts from this journey :

Durbuk to Merak Village – Winter in Ladakh

Winter in Ladakh : Revisiting Turtuk from Leh

I was pretty excited to see the archery competition and even waited for a while for it to start. Finally the sun peeked through the clouds, and I thought that could rush things up. We left from Tsaga village at around 10 am and the festival was still getting started at that time! The home guy, Gyurmed has a pickup camper and agrees to drop us till the Loma Bend. He has some work at the Tara ITBP Check post and we pay him 500 INR. He is kind and also gives us basic breakfast at home even though his sister had to go out for some work.

I am very keen on making it to Hanle and Gyurmed suggests he can drop us to Hanle but we don’t want to trouble him further and decide to get down at Loma Bend itself. The scenery is epic here; the semi-frozen Indus River makes an appearance and the road to Rhongo and Hanle goes past a bridge over the Indus river at Loma. It is a photograph for the purists and my camera refuses to work and only clicks blank photographs! I wonder if it has something to do with the cold of the previous night.

Loma Bend is an army and ITBP Check Post and has a sizeable camp since it is strategically located at a 3 way junction. The road continues straight for Mahe bridge from Loma Bend and another goes to Chushul, while crossing the bridge would mean heading into Rhongo, Koyul, Demchok and Hanle. We have the required permits to head to Hanle, and simply wait for a ride. Thats our only target of the day and finding a homestay to stay at Hanle.

We keep our backpacks on a bench near the check post and chat up intermittently with the army guys. The clock keeps ticking and crosses noon and then 1 pm and all the vehicles that have come till now have only gone to either Chushul side or Mahe side. Not even one vehicle has crossed the bridge. Since it is a manned check-post, the army guys have told us that we should get a ride in any of the vehicles that comes since they all have to compulsorily stop.

It seems our luck with hitching rides in winter in Ladakh has finally run out in the last few days and we embrace the difficulty with grace. One of the senior Army officers sees us waiting since morning and asks us to have lunch at one of the Army domes. We are grateful to him and tell the check post guy to make sure to stop if there’s a vehicle heading to Hanle. The food is excellent and we are served dal makhani loaded with ghee, a vegetable curry and chapati. We relish the delicious food and thank them!

The officer comes and chats with us for a bit and offers us dairy milk chocolates. We tell him the food is incredibly tasty and he tells us that since it is a harsh climate, they make sure to eat ghee in the winter. We take 2 dairy milk chocolates from him and resume our waiting at Loma Bend Check Post. With food in my belly, I walk around for a bit and see the dust flying when the wind speed increases. It starts getting dangerously cold once the sun starts shifting from above.

We wonder till what time should be wait at Loma Bend and run the risk of not getting any ride to anywhere in the evening. Would the army guys help us with the stay there if such a scenario happened? All such thoughts run through our heads and we decide to make sure we go to the other side of Mahe if we are not able to get a ride across the bridge in due course of time.

At 3 pm, a bus headed to Koyul comes by and we decide to jump on it. There are many villagers from Koyul on the bus and we are hopeful of finding a homestay there. Since Losar Celebrations are beginning, the locals tell us that they are currently hosting relatives and that we shouldn’t come. It is a simple indication for us and even though a camper going to Rhongo comes later, we decide to not sit in the open space in the carrier since the wind has already become unforgivingly cold.

Now, we are looking for a ride to any of the villages on the Mahe side. The check post guys are confused but we tell them sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to; so we have to make do with an alternate plan. It is past 330 pm and seems like all the vehicles for the day have gone!

We spot a jeep coming from Tsaga side and get excited when it is headed to Mahe. It is an Army jeep and is occupied by an Army officer who is in charge of the flag meet with the Chinese. He has just come back from the flat meet itself that happens somewhere around Chushul and is especially kind to give us a ride. He is surprised to see tourists braving it out in these remote regions in the winter in Ladakh and perhaps takes pity on us.

We wave thanks to the Loma Bend check post guys and continue in the jeep. I ask the officer to drop us outside Nyoma village (on the road itself) and that we will be able to find a homestay since it is a sizeable village. He is a thorough gentleman and gets down from the jeep at one of the shops on the main road near Nyoma village and asks the locals about a homestay. We are given the name of one Tenzin Chospa in Nyoma.

We thank the Army officer with our hearts and tell him we will find a homestay in Nyoma and not to worry about us. Nyoma village is a 15 minute walk from where we are and see the perfectly perched monastery on a cliff and continue walking. A few locals are also walking and we get lucky to get a ride in a local’s maruti 800 car. We ask him about the homestay of one Tenzin Chospa and he tells us that he knows the home.

We reach the main square in Nyoma village which is just a small cluster of shops and the gentleman simply continues and takes us to his house. It is utterly confusing for us when he gives us tea. The time is around 430 pm and after a long day of waiting, we want to get to a homestay and just be. He is an old man and only when his young daughter comes, we realise he has already decided to host us in a newly built annexe.

We are floored by the helpful nature of the Ladakhi locals and I have tears in my eyes. Uncle’s behaviour is a bit confusing but he is very kind and takes us to the very comfortable room in a newly built concrete building. The room is quite cold but heavy quilts and a gas powered heater are kept. He also fills water in the bucket in the bathroom. We fold our hands and thank him.

His home is quite old and was built in the traditional Ladakhi home style. The kitchen was very small and maybe thats why he offered to send our dinner in the room itself. We implored him to not take any trouble but he said it will be easier for them to serve us dinner in the room and we accepted the same.

We lie down in bed and just recollected what a monumental a day it had been! Even though it might appear that we were not able to get to our destination of Hanle in the winter, the village of Nyoma was just as well! The room becomes quite warm once the gas cylinder heater is powered on and dinner is served in hot casseroles. Food is very yummy and we have our fill.

It is a cold cold night but we sleep comfortably in the warm blankets. In the morning, the water in the bathroom is frozen; but it doesn’t matter.

Our hearts have been warmed.

We thank the homestay family; pay them and take their leave. We walk to the main road and sit at the dhaba at about 9 am. There is also a petrol pump here which looks surreal in the vast outdoors. We plan to reach Chumathang, hardly 20 kms away – a town with hot water springs and a heated ‘hotel’. We decide our adventure in Ladakhi winters is over even though there are still 5 days for our return flight. We want some basic comforts now and I happen to know just the right place in Chumathang!

There are omelettes for breakfast and we gobble them up. The bus to Chumathang comes at 1030 am.

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It is 25th December and we are overjoyed to wake up to a white morning in Durbuk. We have a quick breakfast at the homestay and take their leave.

We stand on the road in Durbuk waiting for a ride. Our plan for the day is flexible and we are keen on making it either to Maan or Merak village located on the banks of Pangong Tso. An army truck gives us a 9km ride and leaves us at a crossroads outside Tangtse. The roads are all snowed out and bifurcate for Tangtse town and another one goes to Erath.

The only traffic is by way of Army trucks mostly going by a green bridge which was a Army Camp. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we still don’t have a ride. I walk to the side of a building and pee in the white snow. We decide to just walk to Tangtse market to have a better chance of getting a ride ahead to Pangong Tso and end up getting a ride in a Mahindra Thar owned by a bakery guy.

At Tangtse, in no time we meet a camper guy who is going to Lukung village. He informed us that he will leave in around 30 minutes. We roam around Tangtse market in the snow, click pictures of the daily life, buy some candies and chat with one lama ji. We start from Tangtse towards Lukung and cross the Shachukul Monastery on a cliff.

The landscape is totally white from the fresh snowfall and there are footprints of many kinds of animals. The camper guy tells us he saw 2 foxes on his way to Tangtse just one day earlier. There is also some sand on the road and is is surreal to see white sand and snow together!

Just before reaching Lukung, we have the first sight of the dark blue waters of Pangong Tso which is not yet frozen. The camper guy takes us to Spangmik and there we meet Padma aunty and the little kid. I have stayed earlier with them and show Padma aunty the kid’s photograph from the 2015 winter trip to Ladakh. The waters of Pangong Tso look as stunning as ever; in a darker shade of blue with no moisture or cloud cover around.

It is only around 2 pm and since our plan is to head directly to Changthang after crossing Pangong Tso and Chushul; we ask the Camper guy is he can drop us to Merak village and offer to pay 500 Rupees. He has some other work in Merak as well and agrees! We are excited like little kids! My friend Jai has given us some photographs to be given to the homestay family in Merak.

Just after crossing Spangmik, the road disappears and only sand and snow sheets are visible; the landscape looks unreal. The distance between Spangmik and Maan, Merak village is 10+10 kms. We drive on frozen streams and it feels like a grand adventure! We don’t encounter any other vehicle on the route. At one point, the road ascends high above the lake and the colours of Pangong Tso look like a painting!

As we drive farther, we spot frozen water on the banks of Pangong Tso. One of the frozen water area is big and kids are skating on it! There are multi-coloured mountains in the nearby vicinity and recent snowfall is visible on them. We cross the prettily located Maan village, with 20 odd homes and 1-2 fancy resorts with dome yurt-like tents. We continue and reach Merak village and ask for the Amchi’s homestay.

We are in for a rude shock with the cold wind. The Amchi Homestay is closed as there is nobody there. The next house is Amchi brother’s homestay and he agrees to host us. There is fancy bollywood music playing and 3 very cute kids studying in the kitchen and hall of the homestay. We are served tea and make ourselves warm in the kitchen.

They ask us if we have eaten lunch and we tell them we haven’t! So lunch is served and is very tasty. Rice with vegetable curry of potatoes and carrots.

It is only 3 pm and the sun is shining brightly outside. We go out for a walk in the village and notice the scattered houses of Merak interspersed with the dried yellow fields. It is a very pretty village with a beach kind of feel and the ethereal colours of Pangong Tso. The wind blows very fiercely even though the sun is shining brightly. It is unbearably cold.

We were recommended to climb a nearby hillock in Merak village for a vantage view point of Pangong Tso. The freezing wind ensures that we are content with the current view of the blue waters of Pangong Tso and decide to just return to the homestay.

The warmth in the home is quite welcome and we sit with the family and kids. They are a mischievous bunch and are playing and making faces! Someone shows us that they burn dried dung in the bukhari tandoor. The tandoor is different in Changthang than the other parts of Ladakh as there is no burner attached to the Tandoor. Its purpose is clear as a source of providing heat and making the home warm.

We share the photographs given by Jai to a lady. The family announces that a Ladakhi dish chutagi is going to be made for dinner. We are happy and play with the kids upon this information. The preparations for cooking chutagi begin and we are surprised to see that almost all the other stuff is packaged. The mushroom is from somewhere, the flour is from Jammu and the paneer is packaged too.

In past winter trips, I had seen families keeping vegetables dug in the ground to be used later but not it seemed like packaged stuff had taken precedence over everything. The chutagi is ready and turns out to be barely edible; maybe it is because of the altitude but it feels a little uncooked.

Some village official is coming for a visit on the next day and the ladies of the house show us a perak! One of the ladies is in the welcoming party and she does a trial of the costume she is going to wear.

It is only about 8 pm in the night; we sit with the family and share conversations. They show us to a warm room and we jump in bed with a multitude of heavy blankets. They light up a bukhari in the room to make it warm; in hardly 15 minutes the pipe of the bukhari comes off and the room is filled with smoke. Thankfully, we hadn’t slept yet and no one is hurt.

We are shifted to a different room; it is bigger than the earlier room but is a lot colder. There is no direct sunlight that reaches this room and therefore it is freezing even after an hour of us snuggling into the heavy blankets. We have a disturbed sleep and even breathing under the heavy blankets feels difficult.

When we go to pee in the nearby washroom in the night, the millions of stars are a sight I have never seen before. The colours of the milky way are dazzling!

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For the earlier part of this story check – Winter in Ladakh : Revisiting Turtuk from Leh

While we are having breakfast, the solitary bus of the day to Sasoma leaves without us and we are left waiting for a ride. Our plan is to take a day trip to the end of the road near Warshi and possibly see the monastery at Stongstet.

We sit on the main road and are delighted when the sky looks like its going to clear up. It feels very cold and is pure luck when an army truck gives us a ride at around 1130 am. It is the start of very informative and enlightening discussions with the army troops about Siachen Base Camp and O P Baba Mandir.

They tell us that there are 3 levels of Siachen Glacier Posts and how difficult life there is for a 3-4 month posting. They drop us 2 kms before Sasoma check post even though they are going ahead too. Apparently the army truck guys are not allowed to give civilians a ride and they don’t want to get into trouble especially because Sasoma is one of the farthest check posts.

We thank them and start walking towards the check post. Nubra / Siachen river is flowing on the left side and there is fine white sand on the road. The weather is quite bad and a sandstorm seems to be brewing with very cold wind blowing! There is fresh snow and clouds hovering on the nearby mountain-tops.

This area also leads to the Old Silk Route track that was the trade route to Yarkand and Khotan. I am fascinated to say the least when I spot a signboard with directions for Saser La. The road to Saser La / Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) and the farthest we can go towards Karakoram Pass is restricted to civilians.

There is a solitary chai shop at Sasoma and we can see a bridge that connects to the villages on the other side before Sasoma Check Post. The bridge is called Kobet bridge. As expected, we are denied entry at the check post and no reason is given. The return bus from Sasoma is scheduled at 2 pm. Thankfully, we are just in time and are the only 2 passengers to board the bus.

Even though I am very keen on visiting Ensa Gompa, the locals inform us that there is no certainty of a vehicle and in a practical decision we feel it is better to leave it for another time.

Ensa village and Ensa Gompa are on the left of the bridge. I had been fascinated reading names like Barma village, Yarma Gompa, Aranu, and the likes. We could also have seen the confluence of Shyok and Nubra Rivers on the way to Yarma Gompa close to Hargam Bridge.

When the bus starts, I am able to spot the stunningly located Ensa Gompa on the other side of Hargam Bridge. 2 young kids climb into the bus and get down in some time. We decide to get down in Panamik at one dhaba where the bus stopped. The dhaba looked like a dull place and had only dall and rice for lunch. It didn’t look very appealing and we decide to not eat anything here.

Panamik is also home to the hot springs and we make the gentle climb. We had carried our towels with us in the preparation for a bath. On the climb, we notice the stream flowing down with vapours and conclude that the hot water springs are up and running. The distance between Panamik to Sumur was hardly 20 kms.

The Tourist Complex of Panamik Hot Springs is locked and closed. There are 2 rooms in an open space and they are both occupied by local women washing clothes. There is also a young guy waiting outside. We wait for a while and after some time request them to empty one of the rooms. Our tentative question is answered itself when a young guy also emerges from one of the rooms!

It is a memorable time in the hot water spring room. It is a small room with barely any light but there is a pipe of hot water and that is all that is required in the cold winter of Ladakh. It is an art to undress ourselves from the multi-layers of clothing that we are currently wearing. We scrub ourselves clean and thoroughly enjoy the feel of the hot water on the skin. Its been 8 days since we have last had a bath and it was before boarding the flight to Leh.

We hurriedly wear our clothes and make sure to dry our hair before stepping out of the room. There are only two dogs outside and we close the door and walk to the main road. We eat the dry apricots and giri almonds that we have carried from Turtuk and wait for a ride back to Sumur. It is around 330 pm.

We are given a ride by the flag hoisting guys who are also staying at the same homestay as ours in Sumur. They are 2 guys, one from Rajasthan and the other one from Himachal Pradesh. They are on duty here for a private company and have been entrusted the responsibility of hoisting the Indian Tricolour at Siachen Base Camp. Thanks to them we are back to Sumur in quick time and there is still plenty of daylight left.

We walk to Samstenling Gompa located on a high hillock near Sumur (around 3 kms) and feel the vibrations of the evening prayer. The lamas are offering prayers at the monastery and it is a serene and spiritual moment. The weather changes in the evening and we get lucky when Rigzen drops us at the homestay as he is also heading the same way.

We are overjoyed with the comforts of the homestay upon returning. It was one of the biggest reasons we stayed here for another day to rest and relax and prepare us for the next leg of our journey in difficult parts of Changthang.

The flag hoisting guys have told us that they are leaving the next day and will be going to Leh. They have offered us a ride back to Leh. We tell them to drop us at the diversion at Agyam. It is a memorable last evening in Sumur. Dinner is a grand affair of aloo capsicum, dall and rotis at the Gyal Restaurant dhaba. We eat heartily and thank the guy responsible – Mingma for the excellent food!

We come back to the warmth of the room and our cozy bed with a super fluffy quilt. Tomorrow is just going to be the start of another leg of adventures to continue our journey in the cold winter of Ladakh!

We apply the apricot oil procured from a local in the morning as a moisturiser. Sleep comes easily.

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Excerpts from the diary : 20 December 2016

Wake up at 9. Feeling very week and feverish. Eat nuts and apricots. Have a vertin for headache. Very hungry. Direct sunshine in the room. Very warm and pleasant. Nourish my body with apricot oil for some moisture for the body. Change clothes to feel fresh. Feeling much better, so decide to leave for Leh market.

Check : In Search of Wine in Ladakh -Hitchhiking from Wanla to Garkon in Winter

Spot brand new Tourist Reception Centre (TIC) near the Mall Road in Leh, go inside and get oxygen levels checked. Fancy, polished English speaking and helpful Ladakhi women at the reception. Very hungry, so head to Sonu Sardarji on the mall road for chole bhature as recommended by locals. Mall road swanky and now Leh market looks like a hill station of North India. Chole bhature is very tasty and hot and we really relish it.

After that we head straight to DC office near the Polo Ground to procure the permits for the next leg of our journey. Start the official procedure for the permits and pay 880 for 2 people. The DC is in a meeting so we don’t have the signed document yet. Staff asks us to come back at 2 pm.

Almost around noon so we walk to the taxi stand to find out about the shared taxi from Leh to Diskit. Taxi guys ask us to come later so that we can be given proper information and our seats can be booked. The path passes through the local market which looks like a tea lane filled with locals. Go to Hanuwala (the guy from Hanu) to check if he has the grape wine (gunchhang) by any chance!

Wok Tibetan Restaurant on mall road for lunch – Timokh, Tenthuk and Kothay (half fried and half steamed momo). Super yummy, very very happy! See socks in Nowshera market, decide to buy when we come back before our return flight from Leh to Delhi. Go back to DC office. Drama, no signature as yet. Somehow get the needful done from the ADC, he enquires why we want to go to these remote places in the winter etc etc.

We go back to the taxi stand and are able to book 2 front seats for the shared taxi from Leh to Diskit. 400 per person. Time given to us is 8 am. Walk around market and stupid decision to eat ice cream at Barista, especially after the feverish state today morning. Sit in the open and marvel at the locals walking past. Kashmir emporium, super expensive. Visit local dry fruit sellers, mostly old people sitting on pavements. Withdraw cash from SBI atm. Go back to homestay at around 5 pm.

Ask for early dinner at homestay and tell them I am not feeling well, so request them to make rotis. Wifi works at homestay in Leh after 2 days. Use to update social media. Go to downstairs hall at 7 pm for dinner. Dall, roti and vegetable, very tasty – so eat well and thank the family.

Pack bags accordingly for next part of journey. Nubra Valley + Changthang. Inform homestay guys that we will come back to Leh directly in the end. Charge all power banks + dslr batteries. Warm room because of direct sunlight. Sleep in peace. Feel much much better and the headache is gone too. Hopefully I should be back in perfect shape the next day.

21 December 2016

Wake up early morning at 530 am. As a professional travel blogger, have an urgent assignment to submit before leaving so work on the same. Ask for warm water from the homestay guy – Ishey (son of Jamspal uncle). Have a tea and a biscuit before leaving the homestay at around 715 am.

Very cold morning as we walk on the street towards Polo Ground Taxi Stand. Leh city cleaning in progress by sweepers. Wonder if the cold doesn’t affect them. Reach the shared taxi stand and there is a delay in the departure time (as usual). Have chai and naan bread with butter (like the locals) at a nearby open eatery for breakfast.

The taxi number has been changed and we are advised to keep an eye out for the same. Finally leave at 9 am. There is a lama in our shared cab, from far off Lingshed monastery and is accompanied by a middle-aged French lady. It is a fascinating conversation with the lady who has been to Iran and has conducted business in carpets earlier. She is visiting these regions in the winter with her acquaintance – the Lama from Lingshed.

Pass through Khardung La and although it is quite cold on the top, there is hardly any ice on the road. The mountains are all visible though and are laden with snow. Beautiful landscape. Stop at South Pullu and North Pullu Check Post and show our ID’s. Breakfast at Khardung Village – surprising since almost all shared cabs prefer stopping at Khalsar which is at a much lower altitude. We are surprised to see the locals in discomfort when 2-3 of them show signs of AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness).

After sharing a barely edible aloo parantha and dal washed down with salt tea, we start on our journey again. The weather is a mix of sunny and clouds right now and we reach Diskit in good time, at 120 pm. Generally the bus from Diskit to Turtuk leaves at 2 pm. Today there is no bus though as the 20-20 cricket tournament of Nubra Valley is being played and it is the final. We are confused about the next course of action but decide to first eat a proper lunch at the only open Nepali dhaba near the bus stand in Diskit.

Dall, roti, sabji, and chai. Earlier this same dhaba was run by a Punjabi owner but he is not operating this year and a Nepali is running this dhaba in Diskit now. The food is excellent and we pay and start asking around if there are other people heading to Turtuk. Since the bus isn’t running today, there is every likelihood of a shared taxi from Diskit to Turtuk. A shared taxi does come, but is filled with 15-20 people and we have no chance.

Get lucky when kids of a police officer are going to Turtuk in a car and agree to take us for 150 Rupees per person. They also have some acquaintances to be dropped to Hunder and thus we are now 6 people crammed in the tiny maruti car right now! 2 people get down at the army camp at Thoise (Acronym : Transit Halt Of Indian Soldiers Enroute.)

Ladakhi songs are being played in the car. Local conversations about Baltistan, 1971, Gilgit. We are carrying dairy milk chocolates with us and share them with the locals. Show ID at Chalunka Check Post. Around 430-5 pm reach Turtuk, we drive straight into the Youl part of Turtuk where the car is parked. It is dull and gloomy here in Turtuk as the clouds have ensured the sun has stayed away after we left Diskit.

Even the Shyok river doesn’t welcome us with the usual green turquoise colour. We ask the kids if they can recommend us a homestay and they show us the way to Ismail Homestay located in Youl. He shows us a cozy and spacious room with fluffy blankets and we are immediately sold when we are served 2 cups of nicely made kehwa.

It is delicious and we thank Ismail bhai for the generosity. He is very friendly and seems to be quite used to having travellers over at his homestay. I tell him I have been to Turtuk earlier in the winter in 2015 and mention some of the Balti dishes I tried then. At this mention, he agrees the price for the homestay at only 300 Rs per person (including food) and announces that the ultimate Balti delicacy – Zabkhoor will be made for dinner specially for us! We dance and rejoice!

We sit for a while in our room and then go to the kitchen when Ismail bhai asks if we would like to sit with the family. We are always keen to sit in the kitchen, especially in the cold winters when the entire family is huddled there and conversations flow.

Ismail’s father is there too and tells us about a case of a local who could come to visit her family only after 45 years. She was originally from here but was in Hunza at the time of the 1971-72 war and could not return. He is reading the Quran in very dim light and asks the kids to offer us some dried apricots. We acknowledge it and relish the soft and tasty apricots.

Ismail’s family is shy, 2 daughters and 2 sons in the medium sized kitchen space. We ask them their names. Zabkhoor is being made on the inverted tawa; they are round cakes made from a mixture of some flour and grains. Ismail remarks that it will warm us up from the inside. Zabkhoor is served with home made ghee (clarified butter) and is incredibly tasty for such a simple looking dish.

We eat to our hearts content and are happy to report that we are able to come out of our jackets and sleep under the blankets in Turtuk. Wonders of zabkhoor and traditional recipes. Thank the family and kids over conversations about Baltistan and the rich art and crafts of the region.

An interesting anecdote over dinner : 

I mention to Ismail bhai that when I came in January 2015, I had stayed at a local guy Obaidullah’s home and since he did not have an extra blanket and mattress he had to borrow it from someone. At this Ismail asked me ‘Do you know who lent Obaidullah the mattress and blanket?’ It was procured from Ismail itself! What a small world, I wondered. It brought tears of happiness to my eyes. Maybe Ismail, Obaidullah and I had a long connection even before I came to Turtuk!

We sleep cosily in the spacious room given to us. Turtuk is definitely less colder than other parts of Ladakh or perhaps I am getting back to normal after a brief bout of fever.

22 December 2016

Wake up at around 7 am. Chai and breakfast. Zabkhoor with ghee and Khambir bread with butter tea. Delicious. Go for a village walk around Youl first, then to the bridge and Pharol. It is a cloudy day so the starkly beautiful colours of winter usually seen in Turtuk are a bit muted.

Ismail takes us to the new Polo ground which is located near the road. He tells us that the Navroz Celebrations are held from 21 March to 15 April. Archery and polo competitions are organised and everyone participates. He invites me to come and stay for the Navroz Celebrations to truly see what Turtuk and Baltistan culture is all about.

Go back to the homestay at around 11 am and pay. Thank the entire family and pay our regards. We want to stand on the road and see if there is a shared taxi or hitched ride available to take us to Diskit today itself. Go and meet Obaidullah first. He runs a small eatery near the main road and has a newer and better home!

We embrace and he remembers me. I thank him for the earlier time, buy the finest quality Halman apricots from him @300 per kg and giri badam @400 per kg. He also advises us to wait on the main road for a ride. He also tells us the rate for buying apricot oil, and that we can get good quality apricot oil in Sumur for around 600 Rupees per litre.

Wait on the main road. Hardly any vehicles. 2 pm already now. Dusty road. Locals walking around and wonder how can we be so hopeful when there is almost no chance of finding a vehicle in the last town of India! Someone is heading to Tyakshi and offers to show us around but we have to decline their generous offer lest a ride for Diskit comes!

One car is going to Chalunka and we jump at the opportunity of seeing a new place. It is not to be as the car’s tyre is found punctured before we begin! We have kept a deadline of 2:30 pm by which if we don’t find a vehicle we will head back to the homestay and stay another night in Turtuk. According to the locals, the 7 am bus to Diskit will be functional tomorrow. In the nick of time, at 2:26 pm a PWD jeep ferrying officers appears. I stand on the road and make sure they can’t avoid us.

There is ample space in the jeep and we are overjoyed when they confirm their end destination as Diskit. The PWD officers have some work in Bogdang and make a stop at PHC (Primary Health Centre). It gives us the chance to see some parts of Bogdang. The houses in the village itself are located a bit away from the road but there are a few structures on this side too. Click some photographs and talk to the locals. They are curious about the benefits of tourism and ask us about the possibility of a homestay in Bogdang.

Very comfortable drive till Diskit. Dropped at the taxi stand at 515 pm. Thank the officers and tell them if it weren’t for them, it would have been very difficult for us to reach Diskit. There are 3-4 vehicles at the taxi stand and it is nearing darkness. For the next leg of our journey we are keen on visiting the region beyond Panamik – Stongstet Gompa and Ensa Gompa etc. Hence, in the best case scenario we are keen on reaching Sumur village. After all, the distance between Diskit and Sumur is hardly 30 kms.

We enquire with locals and find no shared cabs heading to Sumur. One cab offers to drop us to a guesthouse in Diskit market. With no other option, we thank him and sit to be dropped at Zambala Hotel. Hotel uncle isn’t very keen on us staying and as a last resort says 1000 Rupees for the room and food will be extra. We don’t like the unfriendly nature of the reply and ask the cab guy if he can drop us to the Olthang and Lhasthang homestay located on the outskirts of Diskit town.

To our chagrin, both the homestays are closed. Now the cab guy already knows we are keen on making it to Sumur and decides to help us out. He asks for 1000 Rupees for a drop to Sumur and in semi-darkness we say yes and thank him for the help. Have hardly gone a few kilometres when we see another cab on the road. Driver stops him; they are a family going to Panamik and are happy to drop us to Sumur.

We try to pay the driver the agreed sum of money but he doesn’t take it and asks us to pay 200 Rupees to the other car guy. We thank him immensely and just tell him to tell the other guy to drop us at a homestay. We have no idea about a functioning homestay in Sumur and since it is already dark we wonder how to find one!

Request the family and driver bhaiya to help. Reach Sumur (Sumoor) by 618 pm. Pitch dark. Feels like 8-9 pm. Enquire at a house where the lights are visible. Guest house is next door. Owner says no, that the rooms are not made. He is expecting visitors to come from Siachen Base Camp for a stay today.

We tell him that we are only 2 people and plead with him. The driver also requests and the kind owner agrees to let us stay! He says he will make the room in a few minutes and asks us to take our bags and first order dinner at the only functioning dhaba in Sumur located nearby.

We keep our bags and rush to the dhaba restaurant to ask for an early dinner. It is unbelievable how the day has panned out; from not being able to get a ride out of Turtuk to be able to reach Sumur and find a homestay in the dark. We are very hungry and excited with the circumstances. Have a chai at the restaurant; dall, vegetable and rotis are being made for dinner. Santosh (from Nepal) and Mingma (from Sikkim) are running the show at the restaurant in Sumur.

Incredibly tasty dinner. Very very yummy and we eat a lot and make up for our lack of lunch today. Thank Santosh and Mingma and tell them we will be back for breakfast the next day. Also meet people from Himachal Pradesh who have come from Siachen base camp from a contract work for hoisting the Indian flag.

Even more happiness awaits us as we return to the guest house. Fabulous room and very spacious too. Warm setting and the bathroom is clean and nice with a bucket of hot water. The owner is a really kind person and has given us a great room. The windows have views of the landscape and mountains. Open space in the courtyard.

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It is the best room of our entire Ladakh winter trip. We joyously go to the owner and thank him profusely. In the excitement, we haven’t even bothered to ask the price of the room but its ok. Snow clad peaks can be seen in the darkness and the skies show a million twinkling stars whenever the clouds part.

Electricity is also present at the Sumur Guest House – we only notice next morning its called AO Guest House Homestay. Ladakh winter – 6 pm to 11 pm electricity. The bed in the room is huge and the blanket is very fluffy and warm! We snuggle in and sleep without any onward plan and have decided to enjoy the present moment in Sumur!!

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We were offered milk tea and a lavish breakfast. Thukpa, sattu (barley flour) and churpe was served and the family also ate with us. The sattu mixed with milk tea was especially yummy, we were pleased to eat it mixed with a little sugar as the Ladakhis do. We bade goodbye to the Onpo Family, paid them the agreed sum of money (I think 1000) and started walking towards the main road.

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While we were exiting the homestay, there was a little sliver of sunshine which too disappeared. It became very cold indeed even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. There was a mane (chorten or prayer wheel) where the locals were waiting too. We shivered while we waited; the locals went in a NHPC (power project) bus to Alchi that didn’t have space for us. In no time a car ride came, they were going straight on the highway and dropped us on the cut for Alchi from where the monastery was 1.5 kms away. They had also stopped at a functioning SBI ATM and we wasted no time in getting our fill of cash too!

We walked with our 4 bags; two backpacks and two daypacks. Even the basic act of walking was proving to be cumbersome in the aforesaid conditions. I felt a mild fever, with symptoms of breathlessness and the weight of the bags felt like it was increasing every minute! Got lucky with a ride to Alchi monastery only to find out it was closed. Classic and usual occurrences of Ladakh in winters. Most monasteries are closed until you can find the lama with the key!

And we put our bags in one corner and set about finding the caretaker. After much deliberation, the lama with the key finally decided to let us in. On multiple trips to Ladakh, I had visited almost every destination twice. Alchi and Lamayuru had eluded me and on this trip both these destinations were revisited! I was elated since these two monasteries are very old and it had been more than 10 years since I was in Alchi. Entry to Alchi Monastery was 20 Rupees per person. It was quite a task to remove the huge footwear with the winter socks and enter the intricately carved monastery in Alchi.

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The frescoes were beautiful and old, and the location of Alchi monastery was magnificent. It was located on the banks of Indus river and the colour of Indus was a gorgeous shade of green. Alchi Monastery is said to be among the finest of the 108 monasteries established by the Great Translator ‘Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo’ and that is why I was especially keen on seeing it properly this time. The wood carvings in Alchi Monastery have been the work of Kashmiri Craftsmen and date to 10-11th Century AD.

The lama opened almost all the different rooms and halls at Alchi and we were very happy. It was still painfully cold with the sun deciding to hide behind the clouds. We thanked the Lama and started walking back toward the main road. A lady in Alchi was curious upon seeing us and asked us if we were looking for a homestay. We had some dry fruits to eat while waiting for a ride at the Alchi cut. A local saw us and asked for INR 100 to drop us at the Alchi bridge. 12 noon.

It was only around 11 am and we decided to not make any fixed plans for the rest of the day. The broad idea was to possibly see Likir Monastery with the huge Maitreya Buddha statue; then perhaps the two ancient temples at Ladakh’s old capital of Basgo (15th-16th Century) and if we got really lucky then reach Leh in the evening and find a homestay. It did seem like an ambitious plan but Basgo was on the highway which was a fabulous road and we would only require a couple of rides to get to Leh.

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Back to reality and we could only hitch a ride to Saspol. Very hungry since it was around 12 noon and we had used up all the nutrition that our early breakfast had provided. The dhaba at Saspol that helped us with the homestay last evening was open and made fresh omelettes for us. It did the job for the time being and since no vehicles were stopping in the main town of Saspol, we started walking out of the town to increase our chances of a ride!

It is a basic rule of hitchhiking that one is more likely to find a ride on an open road than in the town.

And to our luck, a camper from Kargil was happy to give us a ride till the diversion for Likir Monastery. There were a couple of dhabas at the Likir cut; one was closed and only a Nepali dhaba was open. Had chai and asked him if he knew someone who would take us to Likir Monastery and bring us back to the same place on the highway. In over half an hour of waiting, not one car had gone or come from Likir and paying someone seemed like the only possible solution.

The Nepali dhaba guy knew a local whose repair shop was adjacent to his dhaba and he also had a car. We made a quick conversation with him to realise that he had seen us earlier. We offered him 200-300 Rupees and he didn’t say no but didn’t say yes too! He was a sweet chap and took us to Likir monastery after finishing his work. He told us to see the monastery quickly and that he will be waiting to pick us up at the parking space in an hour.

Likir Monastery has a huge Maitreya statue and is a beautiful and old monastery. Better weather and almost sunny now. One lama shows us around. Recently restored and freshly painted frescoes. Likir village in the far distance is seen from Likir Monastery.

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Since we had more probable plans in mind; the guy waiting in the parking lot seemed like the best proposition and we got done in less than 45 minutes and sat in the car. We thanked him profusely, paid him 300 Rupees and got down on the highway. Inspite of what felt already like a long day, the time was only 2:30. The sun was beaming down now but I felt like fever had already set in. I was quite tired but since this was the highway and there was sizeable traffic, we quickly got a ride to Basgo village.

We were given a ride in a red alto who were going to Leh and asked us if we wanted to come all the way to Leh. We thanked them for their offer and told them we wanted to be in Leh for the night but only after seeing the temples of Basgo.

Basgo village had no activity at all. The temples were located on a high hillock and we thought it was useless to carry our heavy backpacks to the top. Across the road there was a home and we spotted some activity there. The home owners were doing some work in the field; we asked them if the monastery would be open and whether we could our bags there. They gave us the number of the lama who might have the keys. We called him to make sure he was there to avoid us the disappointment of reaching Basgo monastery and it being closed.

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The lama sounded drunk and demanded to know if we had brought any offerings with us. I tried to be vague on the phone and told him we are coming up to the monastery. It was quite an uphill climb on the shortcut path from Basgo Village to Basgo Monastery and we huffed and puffed and wondered if it was going to be worth it. As soon as we reached the monastery, we understood that the lama was indeed drunk with red eyes!

He offered us chai; we said yes so as to not offend him. He had the keys to one monastery and opened it, the huge Maitreya statue was majestic. The lama asked about the offering and I slid in a 50 Rupee note and asked him to secure the keys for the more ancient other monastery room. He repeated that the keys are not with him and that the senior lama has those keys. Unconvinced he was speaking the truth, we tried our best to see if a higher offering would make him take out the key but it was not to be.

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With a heavy heart, we decided to give up and started descending to Basgo Village. The Basgo citadel towered above the valley and there were glorious views from there. It was indeed at a vantage point and a strategic location to be the capital of Ladakh (once upon a time). The descent on the slender path was even more dangerous and we barely made it to pick our bags from the home in Basgo Village.

It was around 4 pm and we decided to try our luck to get to Leh since the drive would only take about an hour or so since the distance between Basgo to Leh is only 40 kms. We witnessed a heartwarming scene while waiting for the ride. At the Mane (prayer wheel) in Basgo, three old Ladakhi locals were laughing and chatting on the steps. With the bright evening sunshine, it turned out to be a lasting memory.

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Our ride duly came by; it was a camper with a couple with a small kid. The lady and the man were both keen on us occupying the empty seats in the back but it was a strange ride (as I clearly remember). Apart from asking us where we wanted to go, there was barely any conversation among us. Our exhaustion might also have had something to do with it. The family was very kind but perhaps wasn’t keen on talking even when I made repeated attempts to make them feel welcome after giving us the ride.

They dropped us at Skalzangling at around 445 pm. I remembered the name of my Leh winter homestay from an earlier winter trip to Ladakh and we paid 100 Rupees for a Omni Van ride to Jamspal Homestay on Old Fort road. The concrete walls had made Jamspal Homestay very cold indeed. I was quite disappointed when it turned out that Jamspal uncle was not there and it was only his son managing the homestay this winter. The furry dog was there but didn’t seem to recognise me from January 2015!

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We agreed for a room for 600 Rupees (January 2015 was 300 Rs). I wasn’t very happy with the facilities when he mentioned that there was no water available and that dinner was not available too and no service as well. We were famished having not had the chance of a proper meal since morning. We left our bags in the room and started walking to the mall road. I am in dire straits with the fever and the cold but have no option but to go and eat out.

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Feel very weak and notice a high pulse rate. Understand that it is all mostly because of the hunger. Go to a nice eatery on the main road. Yummy food. We eat like hungry beasts. Walked back to Jamspal Guest House in darkness. Its a little scary to walk amidst the barking of dogs and my past experience tells me that dogs in Ladakh are quite scary, especially when they operate as a pack in the winter months.

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Silence at the homestay. Went to our room and ask for more blankets. Try to lie down. Very cold room since the sunshine only comes in the room before noon. I struggle with breathing and feel very very cold. Take an ORS mixed with water. It has been a momentous day with almost everything going right but it looks like the homestay choice has been wrong.

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I say this mostly because of Jamspal uncle not being there and the absence of a family meaning the coziness, food and warmth is missing as well. We convince ourselves that there wasn’t much choice given the circumstances. I take a tablet for fever, shiver in the cold and try to sleep at 9:30 pm.

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Read : In Search of Wine in Ladakh -Hitchhiking from Wanla to Garkon in Winter

Diary Entry from the third day of my Second Winter Trip to Ladakh

We could only procure 1 bottle of gunchang in Garkon village after much searching across multiple households. It cost only 300 Rupees as a local had also joined us in our endeavour! The locals were surprised and proud when we told them that we were in this region primarily to taste and source their locally made grape wine. For the uninitiated, the bottle that we had procured was made from green grapes and can be called white wine. For the locals of this region, red wine is almost equivalent to a sacred product and they speak of it as a medicine since it is produced in minimal quantities due to less quantities of black grapes grown in the ‘Aryan Valley’ or ‘Brokpa’ also called Drokpa villages.

In my mind, I was almost certain that either the villagers had started making less ‘gunchang’ or they were keeping it for themselves for the Ladakhi Losar festival that was only another 2 weeks away. In either scenario, we gave up the thought of procuring more bottles of wine in Garkon and started walking toward the main road. Lost our way numerous times in the winding lanes. Finally reached the road. Keep a target of 5 vehicles for going to Darchiks village and give up within 45 minutes with zero traffic on this lesser taken Khaltse-Batalik road.

Locals had suggested we should make our way to Darchiks for maximum chances of procuring the gunchang or grape wine, as the village is located on a higher cliff on the opposite side and grows more grapes. After that the locals who had seen us lingering around, suggested that we walk to Garkon bridge (which was 1 km away from where we were) and ask at the only home there. We had begun to think that since we had chosen to undertake this truly offbeat journey, even the gods were wiling to help us at every step.

One camper guy who had seen us before appeared in front of us (as if by miracle); we narrated our prerogative of coming to the ‘Aryan Valley’ in search of grape wine and he instantly suggested a village called Hordass. I had never heard of Hordass before and when he mentioned his sister lived there, we quickly struck a deal of Rs. 200 for a visit to Hordass; procuring at least 3 bottles of gunchang and possibly one of red wine, and dropping us back to the bridge. And off we start for the exploration of the remote village of Hordass.

Beautiful road to Hordass. It is located on a hillock on the road to Batalik opposite Darchiks village. A sharp diversion on the road to Batalik takes us to the village of Hordass. Indus river looks beautiful on our drive, maybe I can also call it heavenly. It feels unreal, like a movie to be here in the cold winter month of December in Ladakh. From Hordass parking, I can spot a Buddhist Gompa. The village is a short walk away from the parking spot. Hordes village is small and is considered a part of Garkon village.

We walk in the stone lanes ducking in the slender paths and arrive at the camper guy Tsering’s sister’s home. His sister is happy to see him and we are ushered into the kitchen and sitting area. It appears to be an ancient home, a tiny kid and cat play with each other. A table is laid out with chacha (Tibetan Butter tea), apricots (chulli) and almonds derived from the kernels of the apricots (badam giri). We enjoy the graciousness of the Brokpas in this warm and sunny village while Tsering is on his way to every household in the village asking for Gunchang after his sister has indicated that they do not have any grape wine at their home.

Tsering emerged with 3 bottles in his hand and asked us for 900 Rupees. We gleefully handed him the money and tasted one of the bottles for authenticity! Apparently, the locals demand as much as 500 Rupees for a bottle of gunchang from other locals. Tsering had apparently persuaded the seller to give it for a reasonable price by narrating my story of having come to this region earlier in January 2015. We thank Tsering’s sister and say goodbye to the enigmatic village of Hordass. After a short drive, we are back at Garkon bridge and ask to be dropped on a part of the road where the sun is still shining.

Locals are sitting in the sun too. It is 1 pm in the afternoon. Wait for ride. Sun goes behind the mountain. Locals shift to a region where its still sunny; we shift with them too. Clothes are hanging on a wire; we wonder who must have washed them in the freezing waters of the Indus! A bridge is visible a short distance from where we are, and with the blue colour of the Indus seems very enchanting. We sit with the locals and chat, with no particular order of conversation. A few kids are playing with sheep and goats. No car has come our way in an hour today. And just like that, the sun goes behind the mountain once again and the direct sunshine in our vicinity disappears. The locals also decide to head back to their homes as soon as the sun is gone, and we are now on our own.

We have decided to keep a limit of 2:30 pm and if a vehicle doesn’t come by then, we would go to Dah village (Also spelt Dha village) and stay at a homestay there for the night. The villagers have informed us that the Leh to Garkon bus is plying on the same day and that means we will have an assured means of transport to get out of this region the next day (at least.) Just when we are mentally getting ready to load our backpacks, we get lucky again. An IB officer (Intelligence Bureau) officer’s gypsy appears at 2:24 pm. He is going to Achinathang and gladly offers us a ride till there.

The IB officer has some work in Biamah (Also Beema, Biama, Beama) and halts there. I notice the changed landscape of the village as compared to 2015. Widespread destruction in Biamah due to overflowing of the Indus river. A small pond has formed around the road in Biamah; it is semi frozen and a part of it reflects a snowy peak. I ask someone and they inform me that many homes were devastated when the tragedy happened in Biamah village. Maybe the kind family’s house where I had stayed in January 2015 was also washed away. All in all, I could barely even recognise the village and wondered what climate change and ecological disasters could mean in a sensitive place like Ladakh.

We start moving again and chat with the IB officer with regards to his work. The driver looks at us with suspicion but doesn’t interrupt the conversation. We reach the Achinathang office and are offered tea and biscuits. An unplanned day had meant we haven’t had any lunch and are unsure where our next meal is going to be and are happy to accept their kind offer. An unpleasant interrogation is also held by a stationary officer but the kindness of the IB officer and his request of not publishing anything of the nature of their work means I cannot divulge any details. He directs the driver to drop us near the TCP (maybe Transport Control Post).

As soon as we are dropped near the TCP post, close to the dhaba canteen and the shop we spot a camper and a 2 people heading towards it. We rush to the camper and even though there is little space in the front sitting area, the camper guy doesnt refuse us a ride! Apparently the circumstances have been very conducive for us. The camper guy had seen us getting down from an Army vehicle, and when we were asking for a lift – the check post Police officer had also asked him to take us. Later the camper guy said, ‘Thinking you were from the army, I had to give you a lift because there was no option!’

He said that he was heading to Skurbuchan. Even though Skurbuchan would be in the middle of nowhere, we were happy to cover whatever distance we could cover. As always, when I am on a hitched ride I try to make nice conversation with the hosts and it usually helps lighten the mood. Once we had reached Skurbuchan, the camper guys took a detour to a godown to unload and load some goods and informed us that they would be Domkhar and possible even Khaltse. We are in a lot of strife with no space to sit (especially with our heavy bags) but there is no other option and with a joyous heart we arrive at Khaltse Dhaba at 4:30 pm.

There is an option of having food right there but we decide to stay hungry and get another ride in the direction of Leh. The plan is to visit the monasteries of Alchi & Likir and I’ve figured that Saspol would be the best bet for us to stay for the night (if we manage to get there and find a homestay). It seems like our lucky day and another ride comes by in no time. It is a brand new Innova Crysta going to Leh. The owner is a taxi guy driving the car and he hails from Stok village.

It turns out that he has purchased the vehicle from Jammu and is driving straight to Leh from Jammu. He is hungry and stops the car at a dhaba after Khaltse. He invites us for momos and thukpa if we are interested but we decline the offer (our minds are preoccupied with finding a homestay as close to Saspol as possible.) It is nearly dark at around 5-530 pm and even though its a really comfortable ride, we are a little uneasy since it is highly probable that we wont find a homestay in Saspol.

We reached Saspol Market at 520 pm in near darkness. Upon asking the locals, they suggested a confirmed homestay by the name of ‘Onpo’ located around 1.5 kms ahead of Saspol. The Innova guy was super helpful and asked us to hop back in the car. He had been driving for more than 1 day straight from Jammu and must have been really tired. We saw the lights and a signboard indicating ‘Onpo GH (Guest House). He waited for us to go inside the house and only then moved the car. We thanked him profusely for all the help; and he had even said we could drive with him to Stok village and stay there for the night if we couldn’t find a suitable place to stay.

Our screams of ‘jullay, jullay’ surprised the lady inside the house and she opened the door and invited us in. We were pleasantly surprised with the warmth of a solar heated hall where the daughter and husband of the lady were seated. She served us cha-cha (Tibetan Butter tea) and dried apricots (chulli). Since they had not brought up the issue of discussing the price of the homestay, we had deemed it prudent to leave it to the ‘goodness of strangers’ in Ladakh. After all, this was one of the prime reasons we were able to undertake this journey in the dead of winter.

Dinner time was even better. Fresh palak (spinach leaves) had been procured from the greenhouse and the lady made tenthuk. Food was served at 730 and we were so hungry that we instantly asked for second helpings because the tenthuk was so tasty. With so much kindness bestowed upon us, we gifted the family a bottle of gunchang which they happily accepted but informed us that they had given up drinking because of their exalted status (Onpo is a noble last name in Ladakh). Hearing this, we gulped down a glass each and relished every drop of the fabulous grape wine.

After the dinner, we went out to wash the hands and pee. A million stars shined in the sky and beneath the bare poplars, it felt like a miracle to be able to see the colourful milky way with our bare eyes. The husband showed us our room for the night stay which was a hall in the adjacent building. We were freezing after entering the hall that seemed to be constructed in concrete. The blankets provided were plentiful and warm; we snuggled in bed and shivered throughout the night for a really cold time. I had woken up at 6 and kept waiting for sunrise so that the sunshine could bring some much needed warmth but it wasn’t to be.

It was to be just the start of an intensive cold wave in Ladakh, while our travels continued to Alchi, Likir, Basgo and beyond!

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Heard stories from the family about the damage to the crops due to flood in Indus river resulting in landslides. Lady of the house gave us tea and aloo curry with chapati for breakfast. Hungrily wolfed down the breakfast heartily, paid money to the homestay family (they initially refused), filled our bottles with water and after confirming that it was (almost) impossible to make it to Lingshed Monastery in this weather, bade goodbye to the homestay. Lingshed Gompa is an old and secluded monastery that has long been eluding me and since the way to Lingshed was across Phanjila, I started getting a bit optimistic when we had reached Wanla!

Walked to a nearby bridge in Wanla, passed a frozen stream on our way. The parts that are in shade are frozen, while water trickles slowly in the parts exposed to the sun. We are already feeling a little jaded, even after having slept for half a day! The wind is too cold while the direct sunshine is too warm, even in winter. It is classic Ladakh, we have tried to be too smart by not acclimatising on the first day and now even walking on a plain surface with our backpacks is proving to be strenuous.

We spot a lovely compound with golden, crimson colours. Click pictures of what is also a camping site for hikers/trekkers/backpackers during the summer months. It is already 10:30 and we have no plan in mind for our second day as well. Lucky to get a ride out of Wanla within 10 minutes of us standing on the road. We think about going to Alchi to see the monastery. I have seen it on my first trip to Ladakh in the summer, many years ago. Alchi lies at an altitude of 3100m and would serve us well for the second day of this winter trip, especially since we haven’t acclimatised. The little plan we devised included going to Likir village after visiting Alchi and then finding a homestay in Likir or around to stay for the night.

The mention of wine came up and I immediately thought about Dah-Hanu, Biamah, Garkon (also Garkone, Garkhun) and Darchiks from the winter of 2015. Check this post for an encore from that epic trip to Ladakh in January! In that continued frenzy, we got down at the diversion of the road to Batalik before reaching Khaltse. Our fate was sealed! No sooner had we got out of the first vehicle, a brand new Xylo was heading our way and we flagged it down. They were a small family with cute kids heading to Domkhar and were happy to give us a ride.

We crossed the line of Chortens across the Indus river at Takmachik. Domkhar is locally famed for its walnut orchards and we were dropped at a bridge just before reaching Domkhar village. They were heading to Domkhar Barma village which is a part of Domkhar too. Domkhar is divided into three parts – Domkhar Dho, Domkhar Barma & Domkhar Gonma. So, technically we were in Domkhar Dho while Domkhar Barma was the higher altitude village where the walnut orchards were located!

We sit on a stone by the road, near the bridge in the sunshine. I’m surprised to see a few Nepali-looking kids creating mischief with nobody to monitor them! Locals bring cows and dzo to the freezing stream where they drink plentiful water. It is past noon now and we receive a ride in a camper headed to Skurbuchan. There are two ladies and a man heading to a wedding thats happening somewhere near Skurbuchan.

We wait at the mane (chorten) in Skurbuchan. View of Skurbuchan Khar (Khar means Fort/Palace in Ladakhi) on the far right while the Indus river flowed on our left. The waters of the Indus were green while some trees glistened yellow with the flashing sunlight; a lone poplar tree looked immensely enchanting in the background of the impossible blue sky. New car SUV dropped us near the WET canteen before Achinathang. A proper shop with a canteen and 4-5 tables. Sun shining bright so we stand outside.

There are a lot of locals around and everyone seems to be enjoying eating something at the canteen. We realise we are hungry too and with still no decision on a place to reach before the night, it might end up being a long day! Chai, maggi and omelette is all that the canteen guy can manage. I’m not a big fan of maggi but that day there was hardly any chance of a proper meal and anyway we were still waiting for a ride to take us to one of the ‘wine’ villages in the Brokpa valley (or Aryan Valley, if you prefer!) and as close to Batalik as possible.

It was around 2-230 in the afternoon and an army camper from Kargil came by and dropped us at the turn-off to Hanu Yongma (Or Hanu Yokma) near Hanu Thang and Hanu Gongma. There was a hairpin bend at this point and an aptly named – Indus Café located on the edge with a vantage view of the Indus River. Long wait. Sun is behind the mountain and it feels increasingly jittery (and cold) to imagine if a vehicle didn’t come soon. Brokpa (or Drokpa, or Aryan, or Dards) locals are sitting in the restaurant / café run by the Army.

I’ve seen them before but they look fascinating with their button earrings and colourful flower headgear! Some are eating samosas while others are making phone calls. We share a samosa and chai while standing on the road. There are 2 vehicles that come in an hour and while the heart wants them to continue straight to where we wanted to go; they swerve just in time to head to Hanu Yokma (Hanu Yongma).

Its a funny thing; this hitchhiking business – even though you may spend the entire day on the road waiting yet you can’t afford to let your guard rest for even a minute. Like Murphy’s law, a vehicle appears when you least likely think it will. 

The Indus café also sells necessities in the canteen and we buy some toffees that will help us in walking without catching up on our breath, if need be (yes, I’ve found toffees to be really helpful for walks in high altitude regions). One of the army officers comes and picks up some packets of biscuits from the shop, the street dogs are alert and crowd around him to feast on the offer. Another army guy lights up a small bonfire aided by clothes soiled in kerosene and stands by until the dogs go back to their slumber again. The fire runs out soon; it is almost 4 and still there is no vehicle. In the absence of the sun there is no saying when it becomes too cold – especially with the freezing waters of the Indus to our left.

We decide to ask for help from the Army guys with regards to finding a night stay / homestay if we are still stranded here after 4 pm. Luckily, a carrier appears. All of us stand on the road and make sure it stops and does not continue merrily on its way without us! Everyone jumps in the rear part of the vehicle in the open air carrier while the locals are kind to let us sit in the front. This jeep is going to Sanjak and I am immediately reminded of Chigtan Khar (or Chiktan Khar). In the winter of 2015, I was unable to reach Chigtan and I have never been able to fulfil that wish of listening to Mr. Musa speak about the rich history of Chiktan Khar, on all subsequent trips.

The carrier jeep crossed the bridge of Sanjak around 4:30 pm in the evening and we were in the market enquiring about homestays. Locals told us that the only homestay in Sanjak somewhere near the bridge was closed for the winter. We entered the only sizeable looking shop in Sanjak – a general store on the main road where the owner clearly told us we were better off going somewhere. As always, I didn’t give up and asked the other locals on the street if it was possible to get to Shakar Chiktan and find a homestay there? Alternatively I asked if it was possible for a local family to host us in Sanjak as it seemed like a big village with more than 25 homes.

We were greeted emphatically with a no and maybe that was one reason for feeling unwelcome in Sanjak. Sanjay, Shakar Chiktan and around are entirely Muslim villages in this part of Ladakh. Balti Muslims inhabit this culturally rich area of Ladakh. However, in retrospect it was good that the denial was certain and it helped us to make a quick decision to get out of there. We quickly walked across the Sanjay bridge over Indus river to think about an alternate course of action of where to stay for the night. It felt like déja vu all over again. Suddenly I was back to the frozen winter of 2015 when I had walked on this road alone.

I checked the watch, it was almost 5. We have decided to walk on the Batalik road towards Biamah, Dah-Hanu, Garkon villages and hope for a ride. There’s a weird looking man walking just behind us; we notice that he was also on the carrier that dropped us to Sanjak. After his attempts at making small talk with us, we decide to let go of the eerie feeling and just stand at our spot beside the flowing Indus river until the man disappeared from our view. And immediately, it felt like a fresh lease of life began flowing through our veins as soon as he went away; as if a negative force had been averted.

Even though the light was deteriorating very quickly now, fear wasn’t a part of our thinking right now. Our backpacks felt heavier by the minute and the unabated cold winds blowing increased their intensity as if they were punishing us for a dream too big! Just as the (shit) scary feeling is about to hit us, luck comes to our rescue again! The nearest villages are still 2-3 kms away, and we are still banking on a miracle in this secluded and remote region of Ladakh!

A camper is coming from the other side and with no option in our minds, we stand in the middle of the road and beg for it to stop. A friendly young soul looks at us and tells us that he has seen us on the road, the previous day! This vibe delights us and he immediately asks us if he could be of any help? I immediately exclaim that we know of a homestay in Garkon and it would be best for us if he could drop us to Garkon village. Now, Garkon village was around 14 kms from where we were and for him a round-trip would mean a lot of time and also fuel.

Over the years, Ladakh has become among the friendliest destinations in India chiefly due to samaritans like the camper guy! He could have asked us for any sum of money and with nowhere to go we would have to give it; but he only asked us for the cost-covering sum of 300 Rupees. We thanked him immensely and quickly hopped into the camper; our hearts wild with excitement as it was still daylight and we would be in Garkon in no time.

I heaved a huge sigh of relief after arriving in Garkon. It was a familiar feel but the village seemed to have changed a lot since 2015. I asked the locals about the homestay that I had known from earlier and they directed me to Master Sonam’s house since that was the only functioning homestay right now. We walked the twisting paths of Garkon village to reach Master Sonam’s homestay and thankfully he was at home! It was dark now and we had nowhere to go otherwise.

Master Sonam’s house seemed like a concrete structure; we removed the footwear outside the home and walked inside with trepidation. Grandma was sitting in a Brokpa attire in the kitchen – common room and a bukhari was warming it up. What if Master Sonam quoted us an extravagant price for the homestay? Our fears were soon put to rest when he showed us a cosy room (with an attached bathroom) on the first floor and quoted 600 per person including all meals. Happily we put our bags in the room and came down to sit with the family!

We are served dried apricots, almonds and other dry fruits in a plate and butter tea is aplenty in a thermos. It is a very comfortable homestay with a warm, homely feel. Sonam Masterji chats amiably with us and asks us what will we have in dinner. As always, we tell the family that we are happy to eat whatever they would cook for themselves. Two well-fed cats roam around the living room and warm themselves up lounging around the Bukhari. I remember seeing cats in every Brokpa household even on my last visit to the Dah-Hanu, Biama and Garkon region.

I’m quite hungry and am delighted when food arrives; dinner comprises of dal, rice and a curry of vegetables grown locally – potatoes, carrots and cabbage. They also give us a special masala that is a favourite of all Ladakhis but we pass it as the food is already delicious and any addition to it may spoil the taste. We wolf down the food and thank the family for being so considerate and kind. It wasn’t like I had forgotten the fact of why had we chosen to reach the ‘Aryan Valley’ with no plans, it was to procure the locally made grape wine and I wasn’t going to let my desires die so easily.

I saw Grandma was eating sattu and chatted to Master Sonam about traditional foods of the Brokpas and about my experience in Garkon 2 years ago. One thing that had changed greatly from 2015 was that I had not seen even one woman wearing sheepskin in Garkon. I brought up the topic of wine and Sonam ji was happy to serve 1 glass of home made wine to us.

As I savoured each sip of wine with the delicious dried apricots, my heart exclaimed ‘It is best to follow your heart.’

Check out these other posts :

Lessons of Life at Pangong in Winter

Practical tips for winter travel in Ladakh

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