Diary of an Internet Addict

Itinerary

• Diskit monastry (pushed to the next day)
• Hunder in Nubra Valley
• (through) Khardung La (Pass)
• Bactrian camel safari

So Ladakh Day 3…where do I begin?

It was only our third day in Ladakh, but it felt like we’ve been there forever.

The internet remained only intermittently connected. I had planned to put up some photos, so that idea was moot. For the first time ever, I was disconnected from home, being unable to reach my family. No phone connection, no internet connection. Never had the distance made itself so obvious.

This day, we would leave Leh for greener pastures of Hunder Valley, around 5 hours away, crossing through the Khardung La,  the highest motorable road in the world.

We set out in the early in the morning right after a quick breakfast of apricot jam, butter and toast. Have I mentioned that this breakfast is heavenly? It is! Back in Singapore, when I ate toast with jam and butter again, the jam (I bought it in Ladakh) didn’t taste as good, so I surmised that you will need the exact brand of butter (Amul) as well. Or the presence of good company too? 😉

In Ladakh, a trip on the highway can be pretty dangerous. There are sharp curves everywhere and these curves are blind spots. One bump could send the vehicle careening down the slopes, then the end. Drivers are required to horn before the curves to signal other drivers that they are around the corner.

To encourage safe driving, highways in Ladakh have road signs that encourages the drivers to do so. Some of them can be pretty interesting. I don’t have many photos but you can read more about them here: http://ladakhroadsigns.com/. Yes, the road signs are so good that they have a website dedicated to them!

So back to the trip.

This was the very first time I saw snow that wasn’t on a screen nor man created. I was practically exclaiming every few minutes. I kid you not. I am a tropical islander thru and thru.

What a sight to behold!

Khardung La

At 5,359 m, Khardung La is the highest motorable pass in the world. It is high up that there are snow on the slopes and by the side of the roads! Workers help keep the road ice-free.

The strangest thing is that there’s a warning against staying at the summit for more than 20 minutes. I wonder how the workers would fare! 😦

We finally reached Hunder, stopping over for a very late lunch at the town around 3pm. The valley was really green and cool, a stark contrast from Leh!

From our window, we could see the sand rise with the wind in the distance. Later, after our short rest, we headed there, to the Bactrian camel safari.

Here, visitors are able to ride camels in options of 20 or 40 min around the sand dunes. Going to where the camels are,  one would need to carefully tread their way through the sands lest they accidentally step on camel shit.

I didn’t try the camels right due to my own personal beliefs but that is another story.

From cold desert, we experienced icy slopes of the pass at its peak, and the multi-coloured rock slopes of the mountain range, then the green pastures of the valley. We sat amongst the flowering trees, and I thought, it would be absolutely perfect we if had a hot cup of chai  to sip as well.

At night, the sky was blanketed with stars. It was hard to sleep in such an amazing environment!