We leave in 36 hours or so for a fairly long and remote holiday. Several times we really will be out of contact with the world. We may have so phone and internet connections in Leh though. If possible, I will post updates. Here is the itinerary though with as much contact details as currently possible.
21 July
Singapore to Delhi
Departing: Singapore (SIN - Changi Intl) on Wed, 21 Jul 2010, 0215 hrs
Arriving: Delhi (DEL - Indira Gandhi Intl) on Wed, 21 Jul 2010, 0520 hrs
Flight: SQ406
Hotel: Hotel Waves
A-272, Mahiupalpur Ext, NH-8, Near Indira Gandhi Int.
Telephone: 91 11 26786100
22 July
Delhi to Leh
Departing: Delhi (DEL - Indira Gandhi Intl) on Thurs, 22 Jul 2010, 0630 hrs
Arriving: Leh (IXL – Kushok Bakula Airport) on Thurs, 22 Jul 2010, 0745 hrs
Flight: 9W1609
Hotel: Padma Guesthouse & Hotel
Off Fort Road, Town Centre, Leh
http://www.padmaladakh.net/
telephone: 91 1982 252630
24 July
Move Hotel: Hotel Kasden, Lower Tukcha, Leh
telephone: 01982-252700 or 9622980999
25 July Leh-Nubra (7hrs drive approx.)
After breakfast, drive to Nubra by car. Evening sightseeing Nubra Valley. Overnight at the hotel.
26 July Attend His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Teaching on “The Ornament of clear Realization by Maitreya and its Commentary by Haribadra” at Disket Phodrang, Nubra. Overnight hotel
27 July Attend His Holiness’s teaching and evening sightseeing if time allows. Overnight hotel
28 July Leh - Drive back to Leh via Khardungla pass, the world highest motorable road. Explore the famous Leh bazaar for souvenir in the evening. Also visit Leh Jokhang or Leh Mosque by walk. Overnight probably at the Hotel Kasden.
29 July Leh - After breakfast, visit Stok Palace Museum and Shey Palace. After lunch we leave for a tour of the Shanti Stupa, Built by Japanese Buddhists this Peace Pagoda is a beautiful structure with gilt panels on its sides that display episodes from the life of Buddha. It was inaugurated in 1983 by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Return to your hotel to stay overnight.
30 July Leh - After Breakfast drive to Hemis Monestery and Trek to Gotsang retreat centre. (Approx 1 hour) On way back visit Hemis Monastery and Thiksey Monastery Back to Hotel.
31 July Leh - Free for Independent Activity. Overnight, probably at the Kasden.
1 August Leh-Lake Tsomoriri - Leh to Tsomoriri (240 Km) Stay at Nomadic Life Tent Camp
2 - 6 August Attend Amitabha prayer festival, cultural festivqal with song, dance, horse races, archery tournament, stay with nomads
7 August Morning drive back to Leh, en route visit Chumathang hot sulfur springs. Overnight at Hotel Kasden, Leh or move to the Stok Highland Hotel.
8 August Day at Leisure. Overnight Leh or Stok.
~9 - 18 Aug The Markha Valley trek with Bill Kite, bill@kitemandu.com.
~18 August Stay in Leh or Stok and figure out what to do until the 23rd. Recover from trek, go on another shorter one, just explore the region on our own, whatever.
Oriental Guest House, Changspa
Rps 1100, bed & breakfast, deluxe room
Will attempt to book for later portion of the trip.
Phone: (0)1982 253 153
23 August Leh to Delhi
Departing: Leh (IXL – Kushok Bakula Airport) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010, 0730 hrs
Arriving: Delhi (DEL - Indira Gandhi Intl) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010, 0850 hrs
Flight: 9W610
Hotel: probably in town but maybe the airport hotel (Waves) again
25 August Delhi to Singapore
Departing: Delhi (DEL - Indira Gandhi Intl) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010, 0755 hrs
Arriving: Singapore (SIN - Changi Intl) on Wed, 25 Aug 2010, 1605 hrs
Flight: SQ405
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Outsprinkles
These are the people whose love and support get us through each day and who we owe so much. They also helped a little producing......
Almost all of the Offsprinkles
10 comments:
You"re like the dude in Razor's Edge, but you got the girl to go with you. Cool.
Have a blast. Rub the Buddha's belly.
I'll be down the shore if anyone's looking for me.
What an incredible trip! I'll figure out how to get skype on my laptop, in case you need to reach us. In case of real emergency, though, try to reach us through one of my children. You have Leland's connection info (leland.strott) and Hank's is henryatticus (no dots, no spaces).
just in case, likely to stay at Snowview Hotel in Leh after returning from Tsomoriri for one night, then Highland Hotel in Stok for a night before the trek. After the trek is likely back to the Highland hotel for one or two nights the to Paul's Guesthouse in Leh. It makes us feel like in Baltimore.
Hope your trip is marvelous. Andy is watching and asking about your progress with great jealousy! Safe travels,
Lel
Well maybe I was right. Neither India nor I will be the same again. If you didn't hear the news, 500 people in Leh village died in a flash flood while we were out of town at Tsomoriri helping at an eye clinic for the nearby nomads. We could not get back to Leh so we spent 54 hours driving to Manali. We had to clear the roads of landslides in a few places, push cars out of the mud in many places and we even built a road over one hill to get through. We slept one night in the car and last night in a yurt parachute tent with 12 other people including six really cute israeli girls. Having fun so far but I am happy to be finally wearing clean underwear.
Sorry for the call Quinn but I was not sure if our little flood hit the US news. It was the first chance to call anyone.
Okay, we are tired of Manali. We spent six days here which is enough. This place is famous for it's cheap hotels (We're in the high end @ $14/night), good cheap restaurants (we can't seem to spend more than $10 per meal no matter how much we eat and $5 for both of us is the norm), and hippies smoking locally grown weed. When I say locally grown, I am serious - it's in the garden of the hotel as well as the border of the nearby apple orchard.
Anyway, we're taking the overnight bus to Delhi and flying into Leh again. I am not sure what it will be like when we get there. We'll hang out there until our previously planned departure so it will be about a week. You still can't drive into Ladakh unless you include a 20km walk with all your luggage so we're taking the easy way in. Rumor has it that they have some human or mule porters but we don't want to try.
Incindentally, I have had to grow a moustache because of a fever blister. For the first time in my life, I have more hair on the front of the head than the top. I need to look up to the sky more often now. Shanti! (Peace)
Melanie & I got tired of the hippie scene in Manali. The roads didn't seem to be getting fixed to Leh so we took an overnight bus south to Delhi and then flew back to Leh a.s.a.p. It took us two tries though - the first plane circled Leh airport for 20 minutes before "technical difficulties" sent us back to Delhi. We climbed down one plane and up another for a second try. I think the difficulties had a lot to do with the Prime Minister making his tour through the area this morning. The airport is still the best way to get here. Most the roads in are open but rather dangerous IMHO. They get better by the day though.
In Leh, they only need three things, tourists, money and labor. Of the 3,000 tourists estimated to be in the area on the night of the flood, only a few hundred are left. Most expected new arrivals have changed plans and have gone elsewhere. I feel very bad for the shopkeepers I have spoken to so far. One hotel that told us weeks ago that they are full until the 21st, now only has 6 guests, including us. Another hotel we were supposed to be in just after the flood is completely empty. At dinner, Melanie and I were the only people in the restaurant (but we looked for a place that needed the business - not hard to find). Their season lasted 1 1/2 months. Ugghh. Having said that, after speaking to the driver, barber, money changer, hotel staff, trekking store staff, etc, I have found no one that has lost family. The man at the tourist office lost land but that is it so far.
We talked to the tourist office once we arrived and they sent us to local gompa (monastery). The association there asked us to show up tomorrow at 9:00 ready for work. We don't know what we are doing but we'll find out.
At the moment, electricity is only on from about 7:00pm to 11:00pm throughout the town and phone connections are patchy at best. The rain seems to have stopped but it will be getting cold soon. We could see some damage from the mudslides and floods at the airport and at Chonglamsar, just south of town, but I have only been to the main part of Leh and Chongspa. We'll try to see the hospital road tomorrow and we may go to Sabu soon too.
In summary, Leh is as beautiful and welcoming as always but it is wounded badly. We'll stay here until the 23rd to see what we can do.
NON-FACEBOOK COMMENTS: Guess what our Kris Kringles' are getting this year. No, not prayer flags, prayer wheels a nice camel saddle. You'll get Ladakhi family for a whole year! Good news all around.
We went sightseeing today at the Hemis Monastery. Good timing for us as just when we arrived, all of the monks came out and lined up along the front entrance. We were very impressed until we found out they were not there for us. :p The head rinpoche of the Drukpa lineage of Buddhism was arriving. It turns out that like all big shots he was two hours late but it gave us good opportunities for photos. Of course, Ladakh is a small place and another friend we met earlier in the trip was acting as the driver for the Rinpoche. Yesterday while we were shovelling mud in the south Leh house, a woman called out to us from the road. It turned out that this guy's wife was working nearby and was just walking down this back lane to get water cans filled.
The sad part of the day was driving through Chonglamsar village. We had been through this town just south of Leh several times and it is a Tibetan enclave. The normal main street is as two lane road bordered by shop houses. Today, two weeks after the flood, the road through is barely a single lane bordered the whole length on both sides by 2 1/2 meter mountains of mud. You can just see the wreckage of the tops of the shops from high up in the jeep. Some buildings looked still intact but others were a mess. The amount of mud that travelled several kilometers to bury this town is mind-boggling. We also stopped to take some photos of the devastation near the Leh hospital. When I return, I'll try to post some of those. That is the area where mountain was turned to mud and the destruction started.
Finally a good note: Ladakhis have a wonderful word "julley" (joo'-lay) that means "hello", "good bye", "good morning", "good night", "thank you", "you're welcome", "please" and probably a lot of other things. Almost everyone says it to each other as you pass in the street. It is impossible after a few days here to not have a smile on your face as you say it. It really is music to hear it spoken by strangers you pass. I will miss that a lot in Singapore.
The first day we arrived in Leh a month ago, I had a bad case of the runs, thanks to some food in Delhi, I am sure. Early in the second day, I asked the hotel were I could go to get medicine and they suggested calling the hotel doctor. I needed antibiotics to clear the bug and surely you need to get that from a doctor, right? Unfortunately he was in the Nubra Valley seeing the Dalai Lama. They second best option I was told was to go to the local hospital. After a nice 2km trek (squeezing my butt the whole way), I got to the registration desk of a small one-storey building. It would take me Rp2 (about US$0.05) to get registered. I only had Rp100 notes so they waved me through without paying, explaining it was too hard to give me change. I tried to say "keep the change" but there was a big "no bribery for faster service" sign next to the desk and they told me to go to room 14. I waited there for about 30 minutes before my turn to go in to see the doctor. Once inside his room, there were also about six assistants and two other patients. The assembly line of blood pressure, pulse and temperature takers went smoothely and the doctor gave me my perscription. I next headed for the dispensary and got half the medicine I was perscribed. They explained that I needed to buy the rest in a chemist shop (drug store). Huh? It turns out that I never needed to see the doctor afterall. The chemist can dispense antibiotics as long as you can tell him what you are suffereing from. After the dispensary, I went back to the registration desk and asked for my bill. After initial confusion, they explained that the Rp2 covered not only the registration but also the doctor visit and medicine. Wow. I felt bad so I gave them the Rp100 note and asked them to let the next 49 patients in for free. It's easy to be generous when it only costs you US$2.
Fast forward to yesterday.... I was voluntteering at the LBA again yesterday and the pickup truck I jumped into took us to the same hospital. It was nice to repay some more of the debt I owed them but it was shocking to see the place again. Despite many volunteers working for the past two weeks, as well as the hospital's own workers, several rooms were still a meter deep in mud. Because the hospital was so close to the mountain that made the tragic "donation", the mud was the thickest wettest and foulest smelling I had encountered. Working all day, about 20 of us could not even finish clearing 2 four-bed rooms. I walked through the hospital at lunch time and everything they had was a total write-off. Air-conditioners, beds, desks, medical equipment, doors, windows, everything was caked in mud or broken and no longer usable. Basically, the walls, ceiling and floors were the only things salvaged. The emergengy room had been cleaned enough that they were painint the walls. The clinic area where I was treated was in the finally cleaning stage before re-painiting. The wards, operating theatre, storage areas and some admin offices were mostly cleared of the deep mud but a layer remained and the muddy equipment, furniture and broken doors, and airconditioners also needed to be removed. Outside, bulldozers were busy trying to clear the mountains of rubble and mud that had been shovelled out from inside. All very sad.
Ladakh normally gets just a few inches of rain per year. In the past fifty years, they have never had anything like this. In living memory, tseveral residents said that they could only remember one storm four years ago that washed out a small bridge and two years ago a storm that washed away a road that ran next to the river south of town. Both problems were tiny in comparson but also recent. Has climate change hit Ladakh?? What will the future bring?
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