The drudgeries of life
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Dream Trip: Day 4 - Exploring the pLEHces!
August 13, 2009... The day we got totally Leh'd, also fresh in our memories as Day 4!
I seldom have dreamless sleeps... today was one of those rare occasions!
Don't know about the others, but I slept like a dead man... thankfully I woke up!
Given that today was a rest day, I woke up at 9 AM... now this felt like being on a vacation :P
Chandu was up and about... got his call that he was at the local Monastery where the Dalai Lama had made an appearance! Chandu, the lucky bugger, actually caught more than a few glimpses of His Holiness... a video of which he showed off on returning! Nothing was visible in the video though :P
Yesterday at Sarchu, forget bathing, even washing the face seemed to be out of the question... today everyone had a good bath!
Early birds that we were, Chandu and I got ready first and left for breakfast (round 1). Had heard a lot about German Bakery, so searched for it and found it after a bit of asking around!
Had an Apple pie, chocolate brownie and a cuppa tea... but anything and everything in the Penguin Restaurant - German Bakery was a visual delight!
We had read in blogs that visiting Pangong Tso and Nubra Valley required passes. We inquired about the passes and were informed that we might not get passes for 3 days (courtesy a possible strike today, i.e. Aug 13, and the next two days making up a weekend!)
Shucks! If we don't get the passes today, then the entire trip is screwed... no visit to the famous Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley :(
Joined Randy and Sid at a restaurant called Bon Appetit... the first of our many visits there!
Chandu and I shared a Bon Special B'fast (round 2 of our breakfast!) - a combo made up of eggs, some shake, Yak milk cheese tomato burger (Yak cheese?!), potatoes et al! It was pretty good! Also tasted the paranthas the others had ordered! Manish and Rusti arrived soon, and it was time for breakfast round 3 :P
A must visit place when in Leh! :D
Rusti and Manish at b'fast!
We decided to pay an agent to get us the much needed passes ASAP. For 7 of us, Guru included, the passes plus commission of the agent cost us 800 bucks for 3 days (1 day in Pangong and 2 days in Nubra).
Leh Fort as seen from Fort Road
Snake Charmers?! More like Foreigner Charmers!!
Shopped for t-shirts on Fort Road... loved one shop with hand embroidered tees! Fell in love with a "How I got Leh'd" t-shirt... 4 of us promptly booked it, and suggested a few alterations to the tee!
A haat in the middle of Leh
Back at the room, Sid didn't seem to be in much of a good mood, and it kinda upset everyone! Looking back, I feel it added a little bit of spice to the trip :P But then, it wasn't much... just a few disagreements over the jam-packed trip schedule and lack of rest...
Anyway, I guess we were a bit loud in our arguments which brought out our landlord, an old grandpa figure, to check on us... our first encounter with Mr. Lobzing!
The kind old man (Any takes on this, Randy?!) offered to make us tea, and we obliged! The tea was pretty good!
Mr. Lobzing, our landlord :)
I talked to Mr. Lobzing in his drawing room and it felt great... this guest house was his and his wife's home... they rented out a few rooms to tourists like us.
I still remember last night's dialogue when we were bargaining for lessening the room rents here:
Us: Please rent kam kar dijiye... kaafi zyaada hai! (Please lessen the rent... it is too expensive)
Agent: Sir, hum Buddhists hain... hum galat rate kabhi nahin lagayenge (Sir, we're Buddhists... we'll never charge you anything extra)
And that sealed it... :)
Next we visited Soma Gompa, a monastery in the maketplace, the same place that the Dalai Lama had visited earlier in the day!
After spending a considerable amount of time in the Gompa, we visited Shey Palace on the outskirts of Leh. It was mostly in ruins, but then if one wanted, climbing to the peak was possible... Chandu, Sid and I wanted just that!
Drivers' delight - the road to Shey Palace
Ganged up at the base of Shey Palace!
We raced up to the peak, and the 360 degree view of the entire countryside from up there was magnificent!
After: Sid (partially hidden), Chandu, and I after the climb!
Victory was ours!
Rusti, Manish, and Randy chose to stay behind...
Shadow dance!!
Shey Palace is also the place where Manish - who had the guts to wash his hair at Sarchu, and at almost every other place we visited - got his new name, Zulfi :D
Introducing Zulfi!
Returned to Leh and savored a late yet appetizing lunch at Bon Appetit. And the variety we ordered: Pasta for Rusti; Thukpas for Randy and Chandu; Chicken Masala and Paranthas for Zulfi and I!
The expression says it all!
Visual delight!!
Post lunch, we collected our passes (yesss! We got them!) and felt great that our trip goes ahead as planned.
A lovely pair, no?! ;)
Next stop: Shanti Stupa, a famous monument in a serene and peaceful setting! It is situated in Changspa, a village near Leh, and the drive till there was wonderful.
Randy's inquiring for ShanCHi Stupa was hilarious... at least someone's command over Hindi is worse than mine :P
Notice where Shanti Stupa is located :)
We had read that both, Shanti Stupa and Leh Palace were places worth visiting during sunset... we sadly had to choose between the two, and the former won!
Sid and Randy by the Stupa
So here we were, at the beautiful Stupa built atop a hill which allowed a bird's eye view of Leh! Waiting till after sunset, clicking pics and all, before returning to Leh.
That's Leh for you!
It was dark by the time we returned to Leh and, on a combined whim, we headed for Leh Palace. It was 8 PM then!
Sid's inquiries from the pedestrians for directions to Leh PaRlace, and his consequent arguments about the word being PaRlace and not Palace were awesome takeaways :P
Next up, Rusti's turn to give us a good laugh: Told to ask the pedestrians for directions, Rusti poked his head out of the window and loudly proclaimed "Bhaiyya!!", and when he realized that not a single pedestrian was in sight, he started searching for the imaginative "Bhaiyya" :P
Ok it was darkk (notice the emphasis!) when we reached Leh Palace. Luckily the front door was open, and using our phone lights we walked straight into the darkness. *shivers*
In one of the dark dungeons!
I kid you not, it was scary as hell :O Walked around a bit before the caretakers discovered us... they were good enough to show us around a bit despite it being well past the closing time! An adventure of sorts akin to old Enid Blyton novels :D
Leh at night... as seen from the Fort
Back in the Leh market, Chandu and I (the foodies too, in addition to the early birds!) raced back to German Bakery for cookies and tea. Vaibhav too joined us this time.
For all those interested, there's a bar (might be more) in Leh market... Zulfi and Sid had beer there.
Yet another must visit place when in Leh :D
As if driven by an invisible force, we were back at Bon Appetit for dinner. The order we gave was huge, and it took 1 hour to get prepared and served!
Chandu and I had Napoleon Pasta; Zulfi, Randy and Sid had mix veg, dal, rotis... Rusti, already stuffed from the German Bakery visit, had a simple juice. Bakar ruled and we had loads of fun discussing lots of things...
Back at our rooms, we planned to a round trip to Pangong for the Day 5, and Nubra for 2 days starting the day after tomorrow! So, an early start at 4:30 AM was called for tomorrow.
The daily routine of transferring pics to the laptop before freshening up, packing for the next day, before hitting the sack.
Yet another purrfect day *touched wood again* :)
Hoping for more fun tomorrow at Pangong!
One thing we learnt the next day: Better be careful about what you hope for... someone up there might be listening :P
Next up (late on Sunday, Jan 10... comon I need a weekend break :p):
The Dream Trip: Day 5: Adventure Unlimited, courtesy Pangong Tso
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Labels: Bon Appetit, Day 4, Dream Trip, Leh, Leh Fort, Leh Palace, Shanti Stupa, Shey Palace
