The drudgeries of life
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Dream Trip: Days 6 and 7 - Enchanting Nubraaaa - Part 1
This post is all about the First Part of our visit to Nubra... August 15, 2009, or Day 6 as we know it!
Despite hiccups, this trip was working out like a dream! We had hoped for the same... after all it was a Dream Trip :D
Everyone was up and about by 7:30 AM on day 6!
In the morning rush, with 6 of us sharing two bathrooms, Randy wasn't able to wash his dirty socks. So, when he discovered a pipe with water flowing out of it in the courtyard, he squatted down right there and started washing his juraabe! I, having woken up late, was brushing my teeth by the bushes somewhere near where Randheer was scrubbing up his socks. And then it happened!!
Out of nowhere, our landlord Mr. Lobzing made an appearance, and he started blasting Randy! Apparently the place where Randy was washing his socks was just beside a hole which opened out into the underground drinking water tank :O And the water pipe, before Randy had started using it for washing his socks, had been filling up that very tank!
Okay, how were we supposed to know all of that?! But, how to explain that to our fuming and screaming landlord?! He was soo angry!
LoL! For me, it was akin to getting a front seat view of a fight scene :P Mr. Lobzing kept yelling at Randy, questioning his IQ, his eligibility to be called an MBA (just for such a small mistake!)... poor Randy was still squatted down, probably afraid to get up and say something in his defense (not that he was given much of a chance!). And every now and then, Mr. Lobzing kept looking at me to support his arguments... I calmly nodded my head, but it was hilarious seeing Randy being slaughtered mercilessly, and scary to watch the old man get so worked up!!
Finally, before walking away in a huff, the fuming landlord proclaimed loudly, "... and this is why I don't prefer to entertain Indian tourists at my guest house" :O :O :O
Randy got pissed off and confided in us, "Saala ye buddha aise kaise bol diya? Thoda bhi young hota hota toh saale ki *BEEP* *BEEP* kar deta!!"
(Damn how could this old man say something like this? Had he been younger, I'd have *BEEP* *BEEP* (you know the drift, right :P) )
All that the rest of us could do in his support was LOL :P
Well it wasn't yet over! Sid was desperately in the need of tea, so after much deliberation, he asked Mr. Lobzing "Tea milega kya uncle?"
Mr. Lobzing replied in disgust (or so we thought), "Order do mujhe, puuch kyon rahe ho?"
(Why are you asking, you should rather give me an order)
The stunned expression on Sid's face was worth a million bucks! Hahaha
Turned out though that Mr. Lobzing wasn't that harmful. He was plain and simple angry because, as he explained later, the water was what all of us had to drink, so he was upset by Randy's carelessness...
In Sid's case, Mr. Lobzing meant what he said in all earnestness... he explained to us "You are my tenants... you shouldn't be asking me, rather you should be giving me orders"!
I couldn't help but see a bit of my grandpa in this old man :)
Had paranthas, masala omelette's and tea at Bon Appetit.
Guru called up to say that he got the work done, but he wasn't happy with it! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! :x
We confronted him, heated words were exchanged and he threatened to drive away without us (Guru had the upper hand in Leh because we had paid way too much in advance... our mistake). The threat was something we'd not forget till the trip ended... how dare he threaten us!!
In the end, it was decided that we'll go to Nubra, and when we get back to Leh, the car can be repaired here! We might face lots of problems on the way, but we'd have to make do... somehow!
Our guest house manager informed us about Nubra, Kargil et al.
He told us about Nubra Highway being closed on Mondays, and Kargil Road being closed on Fridays! Like wow! We didn't know this... thankfully our trip didn't get affected by this piece of information, but one day here and there, and we'd have been stuck!
Again, this is something no blog had mentioned :s
We left for Nubra at 10 AM. On the way to Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world, we finally listened to new songs (thanks to Sid and Randy).
Another wonderful timepass was jotting down the funny, creative, and, at times, suggestive Border Roads Organization (BRO) signboards :D
A few of them:
- I am curvaceous... go slow! (:D)
- Love thy neighbor but not while driving (:P)
- Be soft on my curves! (LoL! Totally obscene, no?! Where's the censor board :P)
- Darling I love you, but not so fast!
- Safety on road, safe tea at home
- Better be Mr. late than the late Mr. (wow!)
- If you're married, divorce speed!
- It's a highway, not a runway
- Don't be a gama (fighter) in the land of the Lama
- Lower your gear, curve is near
At noon, we reached Khardung La. Clicked lots of pics... had been hearing about this place for so long, and felt great to be here!
We made it!!
Chandu with his awesome pose at Khardung La :P
Randy, Chandu, Sid and I wanted to go higher than the highest motorable pass, so we scaled the Khardung La peak too B) The scenery from up there made us go wow!
Ever ready for action... Chandu and I above Khardung La
... and an exhausted and out-of-breath Sid :P
Not even a foot away from the edge... on a rock that could've fallen into the abyss any momentBack on the road, we had black tea. Saw an old man in biking gear who was sobbing... on inquiring, we discovered that he, an almost 60 something gentleman, had achieved his dream of conquering Khardung La on his bicycle! Total RESPECT, sir! B)
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting before you: The Khardung La Tigers
Us 6 before taking off from Khardung La
As we were informed by the manager at Leh, the roads were in pretty bad shape after Khardung La.
Rusti had bumped into some of his old friends at Khardung La.
His comment cracked everyone up!
He said: "Woh log Bus tak Leh me aaye" (Those people traveled by Leh to reach Bus) :D :D
Altitude sickness, I guess :P
Stopped on the road to get some pics clicked with snowww!
Snow(&)men
Soon enough, we had a flat tyre, but luckily the place where that happened was up on a hilly road, 100 odd feet above, and 20 feet away from a small stream. Opportunists that we are, we started a new game of aiming stones at a stream!! Man, you should've seen everyone's enthu... and despite the cold weather, everyone was perspiring in a while :D
The return to innocence, anyone ;)
Natural Contrast
That stream at which our pebbles were aimed :)
Sid taking in all the natural beauty :D
After we hit the road again, the Nubra Valley started opening up in front of us, and, cliched and repetitive though it might sound, the sight was beautiful! At a fork in the road, we decided to head for Sumur (a silent village in Nubra) rather than Deskit (famous for its monastery), something unconventional for visitors to these parts!
The Nubra Valley opening up so beautifully!
Ever get the feeling that there's no one within miles of you?!
A stretch of the road by the river Zanskar was under construction
By this time, it was late in the afternoon and everyone was starving! To our utter dismay, there was not a single restaurant at Sumur, so we just inquired about the place's USP. And we were told "Tonight's rock show", and the hot water springs at Panamic (some 21 kms away from Sumur)
Wow! No wonder the place seemed crowded with people looking so happy! A rock show in the middle of nowhere! We patted ourselves on the back for choosing Sumur over Deskit ;)
So we decided to quickly pay a visit to Panamic, and return in time for the rock show! By this time, everyone was dying of starvation, and Sid was the hungriest, and might I add the angriest of the lot... nothing new, yeah :P
We inquired about the rates at one restaurant that we discovered on our way enroute to Panamic... the per thali rate of Rs. 200 (and the sample thali looked bad) helped me lose my appetite!
As we neared Panamic, we stopped at one place to get the punctured tyre fixed.
The kids at that place were a bunch of cutie pies... 3 little sisters!
Youngest and cutest of the lot was barely a couple of years old... she was a doll with a little fountain of a pony tail :D
Next was her elder sister who was not more than 6 years old, very cute again and red-cheeked :)
Their eldest sister was about 9 years old... she was very protective and eyed me suspiciously because of my camera... not once did she let me take a pic of hers and her kid sisters :)
The guys meanwhile indulge in a round-chair conference :P
And it was nearing sunset!
Had awesome maggi that the girls' old grandma prepared. And finally managed one click of the cute kids :)
Now I know why they refer to it as "kisi ki raah dekhna" :)
The little girl waiting for her elder sister...
Left at 5 PM for the hot springs, but got lost. Everyone we asked kept pointing in different directions!
But finally we discovered where we had to go... but we had to trek up another hill!
Excited we clambered up the hill, but what we saw totally disappointed us! Save for a few sexy foreigners bathing in a mini waterfall, this place was a let down. Even the water wasn't hot... just lukewarm.
Now that we were there, we thought of utilizing our time... I quickly took off my t-shirt and jumped into the falls :P Everyone soon joined me, even if just to wet their feet! One English chick kept taking our pics unabashedly... so don't be shocked if you see pics of a shirtless me being shared on Facebook :P
All in all, we felt that the Panamic hot water springs were pretty hyped up... or maybe there's a particular season for visiting this place.
A tryst with the hot err warm water springs
A bird's eye view of the valley
On the way back, we had another flat tyre! The problems with the vehicle had become a part of the trip... if they didn't surface after a short interval, we used to get worried :P
We raced back to the same shop as before to get the puncture repaired. This time round, the kids were more talkative and we did some bakar.
Everyone was debating on whether to let Guru get the repairs done while we went for the rock show, or to wait for the vehicle and then go for the event. Eventually we accompanied Guru.
That's not a stream... just a stretch of the road flooded by the stream :O
Discovered a neat place named AO Guest House in Sumur. For Rs. 200 per room per day for 3 people, it was awesome! The rooms and the attached bathrooms were spic and span... and it was so peaceful there! I made a suggestion that we stay here for more than just one night :)
For authors, honeymooners and couples, Sumur is the place to be! ;)
The beautiful AO Guest House, and all that lay beyond :)
These AO rooms were worthy of being found in 3-star hotels!
We checked in, freshened up, ordered tea and also the night's dinner. Also, we came to know that the rock show was right across the street! :D
Ewwww! You can see how badly tanned we were getting, courtesy this trip :O
Don't forget to carry lots of sunscreen, folks!
Tried to find out where to get Kingfisher, but alcohol, even beer was simply not available there. We were told that they were out of stock :'(
So don't forget to carry bottles of your favorite drinks to Sumur too!
Sid, Randy, Guru and I then sat in the dark lawn and discussed and debated on a plethora of topics like India-Pakistan, partition, 1984 riots, Ayodhya, Godhra et al. How's that for some intellectual talk?!
Time for the Rock Show!! Woohoo!!
Purchased tickets for 30 bucks per head. Don't know what we had expected, but all the songs being played there were Tibetan :D
The tunes of all the songs were the same, I kid you not! Also the wordings were mostly similar...
One phrase we understood, and hung on to was Marpo Marpo, Shirpo Shirpo!!
Nothing failed to deter the most enthu people there that night... the 6 of us!! We danced like crazy, and you should've seen the look on the locals' faces! Hahaha we were truly the centers of attraction at the rock show :D
Rusti, Zulfi and Chandu start shaking a leg :D
Sid and Zulfi on a roll :))
Marpo Marpo, Shirpo Shirpo :P
Post dinner we took a small walk before returning to our rooms.
Zulfi was due to get his birthday bumps... so to stay awake, Randy, Sid, Rusti and I played card games, rummy and bluff till midnight!
At midnight, we wished Zulfi a happy budday and gave him a few kicks, nothing close to the bumps at IMT for sure! Bach gaya saala :D
Zulfi didn't react much, but I gave him his share of b'day bumps!
Sat outside for a while in the cold night with Sid, and did a bit of star gazing! Mesmerizing!
A city dweller may have studied that there are millions of stars out there in the galaxy, but might get doubtful on seeing only a handful of them on gazing up at the city sky. A villager, on the other hand, doesn't need education to tell him that there are millions of stars out there... he knows it for a fact as he gazes up at them and can see them there :)
Awesome day today was! And at Sumur I realized what it means to be cut off from the entire world... no phones, no laptops, no gadgets, no vehicles, no pollution, no mad rush, no crowds... it's just about you being engulfed by natural beauty, and the peace and quiet is music to the ears! Yes, romantic to the limit ;)
Early morning departure scheduled for Day 7... we're off to Deskit at 5:30 AM, and then back to Leh in the evening.
Next up (on Thursday, Jan 14):
The Dream Trip: Days 6 and 7 - Enchanting Nubraaaa - Part 2
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Labels: BRO, Deskit, Dream Trip, Hot water spring, Khardung La, Leh, Nubra, Panamic, Rock show, Sumur, Vacation, Valley
