Diary of an Internet Addict

We survived the night.

Yes.

I opened my eyes and thought, “It can’t be.”

4.30am and I could see the light through the wall of the tent. Morning had come upon me suddenly.

I crawled out of the warmth of the bed (wincing at the crackling of static), stepped over to the entrance and pulled up the flap. Yeap, I wasn’t wrong.

The water was harsh cold, no difference from the day before. I felt a bulk at the pocket of my winter jacket, and found a pack of chemical warmers. I had probably placed it there sometime before, thinking of the weather, and had completely forgotten about it. I tore one open, gratefully taking refuge in its heat.

The toll on the body was lesser that morning, as we walked down the steps to the cookhouse – We were huffing and puffing less. I guess slowly but surely, we were getting used to the high altitude.

There were other guests already in the camp, all having the breakfast. I had a little of everything – I was quite ravenous. Downed the chai. I think I attempted my version of hot honey water.

One of the camp hands (not sure what else would be appropriate? Worker?) approached us, said something about water in thick accent, that we figured was hot water. The pail of hot water was there on our doorstep later.

I went back to my tent after breakfast, but it was way too cold, so I went back to the cookhouse without my companions. There were two or three other guests, but they soon left, leaving me alone in my thoughts.

Soon after, my other companions joined me for breakfast. There were no more breakfast buffet, but the owner? cook? obliged them by giving them portioned of everything. They couldn’t finish it, so I helped myself to a second breakfast (nothing keeps you warmer than food).

We packed. We were going back to Leh.

The guide brought us down to the water where we took some photographs of the lake. This time of the day, the lake wasn’t blue yet. As we passed by later, and the sun rose high into the sky, and the clouds cleared, we could see the water slowly turning blue.

The warmth of the car was a real welcome after the cold of the night before. We climbed towards the 3rd highest motorable pass in the world – Chang-la. There we had a quick pit stop. Attempted to go to toilet – the smell literally stopped us, some 10 metres away.

And there were snow! We were obliged to at least throw some snow, even for a bit, because you know, it’s snow! It was snowing too, but the flakes melted as soon as it touched our faces so it felt like drizzling instead (disappointment). We had our five minutes of compulsory play and then ran back to the car.

The way back took a good chunk of the day. I really can’t recall what we else we did on the way back. Probably conked most of the way.

Back in Leh, we went to the pharmacy again to stock up on medicine and bottled water before returning to the same guesthouse. The hot water was a huge welcomed change.

For dinner, I think we had really awesome egg curry, but we finished it all before I managed to take a photo of it. Oops.

And so, we reached the halfway point of our trip.