Diary of an Internet Addict

We were a little bit worried regarding the trip to the Pangong Tso because we had still not acclimatised to Leh’s weather. One of our travel companions had been to the lake, though not overnight, so we had been forewarned that it would be cold. We felt that we might be unprepared for the temperature.

So, prior to the trip down to Hunder, we purchased several things we thought we might need in Leh – bottled water, oxygen tank, hot balms etc.

While originally we were supposed to be staying at Snow Leopard Guest House, we boarded at the Hotel instead. Located across the guest house buildings, the hotel was is a newer structure than the guest houses.

I was lucky enough to be put up in a very large corner room, with a pretty clean toilet. My companions were not so lucky, so they ended up using our toilet instead.

While we were there, there was electricity was out until almost sun set, and then, I guess they had the generator started. Dinner was at 8pm and the electricity was up shortly before that. We managed to get connected to the internet for a bit, but again

I was feeling under the weather as it was getting colder as the sun set, and I had to drag myself to the dining hall. (Hooray panadol extra). I did not regret it. It had the best tomato soup I’ve ever tasted, and I hate tomatoes.

After our dinner, we had a chat with our guide on what we should expect. We also learned a bit more about himself – where he was from and so forth. (Yes, it took us that long to actually casually chat with our guide.)

We had another brief electricity outage after. Almost instantaneously, the room was lit up with handphone flashlight. (Ah, Singaporeans and our need to always be on our mobile phones).

After the electricity came back on, we dispersed back to our various rooms and went to bed.

Next morning, after breakfast, we bundled back into the car and started our journey to Pangong Tso.

Itinerary

• Diskit Monastry
• Pangong Tso

Diskit Monastry

Diskit Monastery also known as Deskit Gompa or Diskit Gompa is the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery (gompa) in the Nubra Valley of Ladakh, northern India.^[1][2]

It belongs to the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Changzem Tserab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsong Khapa, founder of Gelugpa, in the 14th century.^[3][4] It is a sub-gompa of the Thiksegompa.

Lachung Temple and Hundur Monastery are also located nearby, the latter is below the main road near a bridge.^[3][4]

The monastery has statue of Cho Rinpoche (Crowned Buddha) in the prayer hall, a huge drum and several images of fierce guardian deities. An elevated cupola of the moanstery depicts a fresco of the Tashilhunpo Monastery of Tibet.

source: Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diskit_Monastery

It has one of the largest statues of Buddha I’ve ever seen. Here, a friendly monk spoke to me, asking where I was going and so forth. Ladakhi monks count amongst the friendliest people I’ve met.

We were lucky to see a giant marmot as we passed through a nature conservation area. There were goats grazing as well, being shepherded by a dog.

It would be a little bit more when we finally saw that bit of brilliant blue around the corner.

We had lunch at a stopover point of sorts. The wind was strong enough to kick up the dust here as well. But nothing could dampen our spirits!

We finally reached our lodgings, Mystic Camp some 15 minutes later.

Mystic “Mystrick” Camp is a luxury camp. It has beds, and adjoining toilet. Also relatively clean, so it was really awesome for us spoiled cityzens (pun intended).

Our tent was at excellent position. It was close to the cookhouse, yet facing the lake unobstructed.

I could hardly wait for the star-filled night.

Except that, as the sun set, the wind was so cold that we could feel it in our bones. We could barely leave the warmth of the cookhouse for our tent.

My brave endeavour ended up in the following photo because apparently, being near the cookhouse at night wasn’t a good position for capturing stars.

The temperature would continue to drop steadily through the night. I thought I would never be able to sleep, but I did, albeit covering everything under 2 sets of blanket.

Tips

You should totally bring these:

• Loads of pocket warmers – I forgot about these until the next morning. Silly me. But they were very useful.
• Woolen gloves – because they keep hands toasty and warm
• Winter jacket – if you can’t survive cold weather. In fact I wore this over my normal day jacket, to sleep.
• Thermal wear – I wore universal traveller’s but they were only for 0-10 degree Celsius I think. If you are hitting the lake areas, be sure to get the subzero ones. Even though the temperature may be -4 degrees, the wind is just extremely chilly.
• A good camera – for chasing stars.
• A decent torchlight – for blackouts. Apparently my torchlight didn’t work cos it’s too el-cheapo and therefore can’t run when it’s too cold.
• at least 10000mAH portable charger, to charge your phone / camera / torch, in case of extended blackouts.
• Panadol (Paracetamol) – I brought panadol extra but that’s just me. I suppose panadol cold might be good enough. I got headaches from the cold.
• Honey – to make honey water because you need to boost your immunity and keep your body warm.
• Wet tissues, normal tissues (No, I’m not kidding!) – When the water is just too cold.
• Lip balm (loads) – dry lips alert. I recommend sierra bees. Nivea is not moisturising enough.
• Skin moisturiser (tonnes) – by this time of the trip, if you have dry skin, you will itch like crazy. I find uniqlo’s heat-tech less itch-inducing. But to each their own. I actually brought coconut oil, but alas! it’s not moisturising enough.