Highest High in the world

It started off with another plan for our favorite destination - Spiti - but somewhere down the line the itenerary got transformed by our German friend to Leh Ladakh instead. The beginning of all our journeys have become predictable - the usual fights about who's coming and how, the coalition-building and the ultimate backing out of all women except for teh sucker for punishment Me! So on June 29th, 2004, we set off on our Lhasa Travels to Manali. Manali was pretty uneventful - we have got used to seeing it just as a one night stop and didn;t really bother to do anything much escept show C around. He - on his first trip to India- was finding the mudainest of things very quaint and we were playing along "Oh wow, see a cow on the road." Or " Can you believe the way the dhobis beat the clothes to get them clean.." and so on.


We had decided to take the less traveled route to Leh - so our first stop was a no nonsense "need to stop driving around" stop over at Kaza. The only thing worth remebering was the dirty rice chhang we managed to make C have- I am surprised his Bisleri stomach survived! The road from Kaza to our next "need to stop driving around" stop was amazingly beautiful with sudden sand dune- like structures giving way to alein city-like rock formations. The altitude had started taking its toll and my co-travellers were dropping off like flies! The stop over at an immensely uncomfortable trucker's tent place did not help much. The place was a couple of tents with stinky sock smelling mats and dogs that barked all night. The only thing worth remebering here was the chocolate rum drink C made on the tent woman's stove to cheer us up. We were all crabby and headachy - ofcourse the couple travelling with us took the smart decision- got inside a sleeping bag and didn't try to force "enjoyment" on themselves the way we did!


Hmm the trip doesn't sound too good the way I describe it , does it! But the scenery made up for all such woes. Next morning was the most "look forward to" stretch - from Trucker's villa to Tso Moreri lake. while Pangongso is the most talked about lake near Leh (it's on the indo-Tibet border), we chose Tso Moreri - I guess cos we are compulsive off the beaten path trekers :) The way to the lake is as magnificent as the lake itself - there are 3 lakes almost like trailers to the movie, one on a marshy salty terrain, one with beautiful birds and wierd wildlife and the third is a tiny blue glacial lake with a lone pedal boat floating around! I wonder who they expect to be pedaling around there!


Our ultimate destination was a huge lake - about 24 kms in diameter and unbelievably beautiful. Altho' I still feel Chandratal is more like home (I guess beacuse its smaller and cosier in size), Tso Moreri is definitely worth a visit. Ofcourse the altitude is a killer and most of my friends spent the rest of the day moaning with their heads in their hands. I, for whatever wierd reason, was perfectly healthy!

There is just one "hotel" at Tso Moreri, it looked pretty abandoned and all the life was in one shady room where a group of men locked themselves in each evening and played cards till late night. The only other option (which we chose ) is to camp next to the lake. The only place to eat is this tent dhaba run by two Ladakhi women and they charge money according to your clothes and the kind of vehicle you are driving (perfect discrimination)! So our driver got to eat his entire meal for 20 Rs while we had to pay 60 Rs for warming our tins :)

The only 2 problems with Tso is the military camps and associated rules for camping and the HORDES if deadly mosquitoes next to the lake. Essentially that means you cannot hope to enjoy the kind of walking in the lake fun that we loved at our lil chamdratal...

From Los Angeles California..The Phish!

One of the much discussed topic in our house and in this country in general is whether LA is a city to be loved or hated (actually to take a step back, the "hate" camp sometime argue that LA does not even qualify as city in the first place). My housemate HATES the "city" - she vehemently speaks about its pollution, racism, heterosexism, homelessness, anonimity of people...my boyfriend (can't believe I accepted that on print!) adores it and is ready to defend its pollution, racism....
Woke up in the frosty morning in MA and decided I'd dedicate this post to what I remember and love about the "city". I will try and give an objective view and not get all mushy tushy about the fact that this is where I met the boy (hyuk hyuk) :)

The first time I visited LA was in the spring of 2004 - altho i don't think that side of the coast has seasons as pronounced as this side - to me the air sure felt like spring time! I got out of the plane carrying my big fat down coat and stepped into the balmy LA air and the first site that greeted me were the palm trees and the abundant show of skin! Ofcourse, the mad traffic, honking, screeching tires, ambulance/fire/cop car sirens were soon to follow but I loved breathing in the polluted but warm LA air. I was on a "sprint break" trip and my friedns made sure i did every possible thing a touristy trip entails - Disneyland, Sea world, Universal Studio, Hollywood Highland, Hollywood sign, Santa Monica beach, the malls and ofcourse Little India (Artesia). I came back moaning about my stupid decision to come to teh east cast instead of teh west and hating the freezing cold.

Now that I've spent nearly a year in that city (if I add up all the zillion trips I've made) , the high points of my visits have changed and the excitement has transformed into this wierd fondness for the city. The city of big cars, big stars and a countless homleless, where no one ever walks the streets and where there is never any place to park your car!

Anne - who is visiting CA for the first time was asking me what are the "must do" things in LA. So here's what I came up with : (the economist in me always prevails and my posts invariably degenerate into a list!)
1. Venice Beach : Yes it's a commercial, crowded unadventurous beach and nothing like Zuma or whatver else you beach veterans fancy but I still love that place. There can be nothing like joggingon the sand from Venice till the end where the carousals start, splashing thru the occassional waves, chasing the sea gulls and jumping over sand castles! If that's not good enough, there is still the zoo to visit and get yourself a slice of pizza/ Argentinian what-do-you-call-it and a softy and watch the animals pass by! My favorites are the old man in a turban, a flowing robe, playing the banjo and on roller skates (what a multi tasker!) and ofcourse the really gross one whose pic is above - the short muscle man wearing nothing but a US flag undie! He really cracks me up :)
The less illustrious ones are the young performers (usually rap singers and dancers), the tarot card readers, palmists, painters, trinklet sellers..It's a yankee version of dilli haat, added charm that it's on a beach!

2. Temescal Canyon (is that what it's called??) : I am talking about the one where there are different trails and from one of the trails you can get a magnificent view of the pacific ocean. Is it Temescal?? Our favorite trail is this steady climb (only about 2.5 miles though) where you pass a little stream, then a littler waterfall near a really cute wooden bridge, then a hill top with the great ocean view and the scary looking path going up somewhere in the distant right. The trail ends at the Delhi "ridge' type park (everything reminds me of delhi it seems!), with it's picnic benches. Ummmmm wish I was there RIGHT NOW!

3. Runyan Canyon: This is not as fancy as the Temescal, my fondness is mostly due to familiarity. During the month that I was stuck in LA with not much company during the day I would walk dwon to the Runyan, do a bit of yoga at the front lawns and then climb up to the top. It's an easy climb, takes anywhere beyween 20 mins to 40 depending on what u r trying to accomplish. There are some turns in the path that give really lovely views and on a REALLY clear day you can see the ocean and some far far away ships on it. One from one of teh corners you get the most amazing view of the entire city stretching upto the blue line of the ocean.
Somehow my favorite side is when you reach the top and go behind the bushes from where you get the best view of the Hollywood sign and the hills splattered with all celebrity houses, their blue pools, colorful umbrellas and the pretty colors of flowers and shrubs mingling witha lll the expensive arhcitecture. I've never seen a person in those hills - those houses look like beautifully expensive haunted houses!

Sagnam: The land where the rivers meet

My second visit to Tabo was just about 2 years after my first one but in just these few years a lot had changed. My quaint old gompa town had been hijacked by the banjara camp people and not only were there Biharis crawling out of the woodwork, the whole place was littered with half finished monuments. Fortunately, not too much had changed near the monastery, the hotel remained the same (tho' the room rates were no longer negotiable - I guess the monks had learnt some business tricks), the mud floor of the gompa had the same feel and smell and the engraved carvings on stonme templates retained their mystique. It was so good to be back!
After the mud floor of the monastery, my second favorite place in Tabo is the cold windy cemetary (Shamshan Ghat- tho' don't think they burn people there anymore). That place has a strnage charm - it's always very windy I guess because it;s surrounded by rocky mountains, the brown spiti river runs alongside one edge and there are lots of big rocks perfect for sun bathing! We would sit here and watch the cave like structure on the other side of the river, sheep and starnge furry animals come to drink water and throw s million stones into the murky water below. It's so unbelievably peaceful there that you can't even read a book or listen to music - you just have to focus on soaking up the silence!




Next stop was Sagnam in the pin valley. Pin valley is adjacent to spiti but unbelievably different - the sparse rocky terrain is replaced by green green meadows. The place we stopped at was at the confleunece of two rivers and the meadow behind our guest house (the only one there) had a view I would never forget - 360 degree of the most amazing terrain, rivers on one side, different colored mountains, and on two sides meadows of the most colorful flowers imagined - pink, purple, maroon, white and yellow scattered all over the green meadows... I swear to you, it was like a dream. I wish I had photo graphs of that place, why don't I?? Oh ya, P ran out of battery.

Trip II Revisiting Spiti Valley with $$ Dreams!

My second trip to Spiti was the summer before I came to the US. I had already reached that phase where my life revolved around "leaving for the US", the bisleri drinking and thinking in $ had already begun! After lot of fighting over who's coming and why G, P and I decided to stop trying to convience the non enthu ones of the group, buy a tent and just go for it. It was July 2003, raining like crazy in delhi and ma was as usual giving her last minute dose of emotional blackmailing "I won;t be able to sleep at night, taking a bus in the monsoons to a place like Manali is not safe. Freedom ke license baniyo na (don't treat the freedom we give u as a license to do what u want to !!!) And as usual we didnt listen. Poor Ma, what did she do to deserve such loony daughters! (tho I secretly feel she likes sending us off on this mad adventures and just pretends to be all Ma-ish for society sake!)

We boarded our usual Lhasa Travels cheapy bus to Manali in the evening with rucksack full of TP, tuna, beans, ham and gin (what priorities)! G was too excited to let any of us even nap so we chatted till dawn when we reached the little dhaba on the foothills. I have such fond memories of that tiny place right next to a sewer! That's when the air starts getting frigid and we always reach it just when the sky starts turning red and the sweet sweet tea tastes so good (especially witha gold flake!!!) UMMMMM Now I miss my friends and the winters in India...EEP

The half finished inn near the bridge seemed abandoned so we chose a fancier Hotel next doors and got the honeymoon suite - full of big mirrors and a BIG bed!! What a waste of all the gimmicks on 3 "no sex" friends (Ref: Last trip to Spiti the Israeli girl next doors was appalled that 4 of us were what she called "no sex" friends on a platonic hike!). Ofcouse we started the trip with some snitzel (is that what's it called?) and yummy Tomato soup in Hotel Manalsu. We were stocking up on all good food since the hike promised just tins of cold meat. Our first stop was Batal and Chandratal lake. I know I;ve already talked a little bit about this - let me check in the archives, nah that trip deserves a post to itself.

They are two ways to reach Chandratal - one is the sane route thru' Batal, longer but just one waterfall-y stretch that can get anywhere near tricky. But ofcourse the two boys with me had to prove their machismo right there and then so we chose the insane route thru Kumsum Pass. Incidentally, Kumsum temple is quite fascinating, there is this sticky rock and people have to ask for a wish and stick a coin on the rock. And the saying goes "If you have a pure heart the coin sticks and your wish comes true!". Umm I think I forced mine to stick by holding it down for 5 minutes!
The hike for the first 2 hours was quite a cakewalk - I was almost gloating at my adventurous spirit. The boys had been left far behind by Braveheart me mainly cos their nicotine lined lungs could not take the pure mountain air and to top that they were taking swigs from the gin bottle! While waiting for them I had become friendly with a shephard and we had a long emotional converstaion on the "degrading morality of city life and people (read me) vs. the simple generosity of rural people (i.e people like him). He turned out to be a savior on the last bit of the trip so...



About a mile from where Mr Shephard and I sat and gossiped, started the deadly route. The first mile was a road broad enough for just one foot and that too at a wierd angle threatening to push that foot down to the river bed a zillion feet below. I get hysterical just walking down steep steps so you can imagine what I did when i reached that part of the hike. Yup, I went hysterical - crying, shaking, legs turning to jelly - most disgusting behavior! Thankfully Mr Shephard decided to help out the "mean witch from the city", he practically carried me over the treacherous parts. Not to say the boys were any better, by the way. The next turn was a 90 degress fall of rocks - I have no idea how anyone did that walking straight up but to us it seemed even impossible to scramble down. So our savior had to go up and down three times first carrying me down, hauling hefty G and then semi carrying skinnier P! He must have been rolling his eyes at us all the time wondering why we bothered to get off our SUVs!


Well, we did reach the lake after 5 hours of insanity and it actually seemed worth it - the lake was deep blue and still and the mountains surrounding it were of bizarre colors - some deep brown, some rocky, some white with snow and one with some green vegetation.. ooooohhhhh it was a breathtaking view! We were like robots by then but had to pitch the tent before it got dark - so we did, right next to the lake.

Chandratal is a glacial lake surrounded by snow covered mountains so you can imagine how cold it got at night. Cold meat from tins sounded too horrible so we dragged ourselves to the black tent man about a 6 inute walk from where we had pitched our tent. Trust me, that walk was the freeziest possible - my ears and hands nearly fell off. So this enterprising man from Delhi had pitched his big black tent sticked with a few sleeping bags, lots of chocolates, tea, biscuits, coke(!) and daal chaawal. Ofocurse he charged 10 times the actual price but no one cared!


Next morning I woke up with the sunrise (don't think I could have slept much with the donkeys braying and G snoring and my toes frost bitten)and the lake (which I could touch by just reaching out of my tent flap) has turned a toatlly different color - a mix of green and red. It was totally still and the reflections of the mountains made it look like some surreal painting.
Most of our days there we spent just admiring the lake, walking around it, me singing songs with my feet in the water, drinking tea and eating chocolates, laughing at donkeys and being surrounded by sheep.... what else do you need from life!