White water rafting, Leh and Khardungla... Top of the World!
21
Jul 2014. This morning, I sleep in. Not up before the crack of dawn as has been
the routine every day since we started. The last two nights haven’t been all
that restful due to the intense cold and my flagging energy needed this booster
dose of sleep to be vital again today. Well rested, I am all charged up to take
the day on. We have joined forces with our Team B who have flown in from Goa
yesterday. They will take this journey forward through Nubra Valley, Pangong
Tso, Kargil, Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Delhi and then back to Goa. This is the
only time that both the teams are together... today and tomorrow giving Team B
time to acclimatise before they take the rally forward.
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| Small apples from Nimmu camp |
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| Our colourful tent |
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| The Rafts we used for the white water experience... |
Getting
the hang of rowing takes just a few minutes and then there is competition
between the boats each vying for the top position including splashing the other
teams with water as they are overtaken. Chotak, the guy who runs the camp is a
champion rafter and No 1 in India and he is in a kayak today. His antics in the
water are to be seen! Has us in splits or gaping in awe in turns.
Unfortunately,
our cameras are not on us today since the equipment is not safe in the rafts
and thus, no pics today! What a shame really! We have so much fun and all of it
is stored away in the upper storey...
A
kilometre short of the confluence with the Zanskar, I jump in again and swim
along quite lazily. I drift under the bridge which is just 100 metres short of
the confluence and then I realise that I have drifted far faster than the raft!
I have no intentions of going through into the icy waters of the Zanskar.
Zanskar is a much colder river since it travels shorter and is completely
sourced from melting ice. Our team has to row hard to get me before I hit the
confluence since the current is strong and I am unable to swim upriver. All’s
well that ends well!
Back
at camp, we are all ravenous! Lunch is demolished and a while later we are off
to Leh for sightseeing and a trip to Khardungla. Our rally vehicles have been
given for a thorough servicing and we get a ride on the camp bus to Leh. Hiring
bikes, we are off to Khardungla on bikes... a different kind of thrill I assure
you! The route is good for a bit and then the road deteriorates into a wide but
rough unpaved path criss-crossed by small streams some of which are big enough
to soak our shoes as the bikes splash through them. The Zanskar range lies
spread out before us and the tallest peak Stok Kangri is visible all snow
covered. Reaching the top we are exhilarated! And cold! The altitude difference
between Leh at just under 12000 ft to Khardungla top at 18340 ft is immense! So
also the difference in temperature. A busy photo session later we head back.
Rendezvous at the ‘Rendezvous Cafe/German bakery’ and we are back to camp for
dinner and bed.
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| The Zanskar range as seen from the Khardungla ascent... |
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| Khardungla top |
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| Rendezvous Cafe and German Bakery |
22
Jul 2014. A nervous excitement pervades the group as everyone is thinking of
the turbulent rapids we need to conquer today and hopefully (fingers crossed)
stay afloat through that! It is a 30 Kms route today. As is the norm, we pour
into the bus which takes us across the Indus over the bridge and then along the
right bank of the Zanskar. Today the manager of the camp is also accompanying
us armed with a camera and will take pictures from some (strategic!) locations
along the route.
It
is a newly laid road so it is super smooth sailing till the road abruptly
becomes the now familiar potholed and unpaved trail like the less trodden paths
elsewhere in Ladakh. We reach the starting point and go down to our rafts. We
are the lightest raft with 5 members plus the guide. The first hour is great.
Our confidence surges and the thrill overtakes us to the point where we think
we can conquer all... absolutely anything!
And
then it happens. We are warned that it is a really rough patch ahead and to be
rowing as hard and fast as we can as we hit it. Before I know it, the rapids
are upon us and .... I can see it happening in slow motion... our raft just
rises up from the right front end and keeps rising. The two members on the
right side fall on us taking all of us under with the raft overturned right on
top of us. I tell myself there is no need to panic. The guides are trained and
our protective gear is on therefore all I have to do is come up to the surface
even if under the raft and breathe from the air pockets under it. Easier said
than done. I come up and try to breathe and I can’t. Just swallow some water
from my mouth so resolutely, I close my mouth and try to breathe in through my
nose. No luck. It is as though the air had suddenly turned solid.
The
raft has drifted off of me and my partner grabs me in the turmoil. In the
meantime I continue to struggle to breathe and nothing is helping. In rising
panic I have dunked my partner also a couple of times ensuring we both taste and
swallow the icy Zanskar waters. And then miraculously, I can breathe
again! My partner has realised my
predicament and pushed the shades up my nose. They must have slipped lower down
as we fell in the water blocking my nostrils and I have not realised it in the
‘excitement’ of the last few minutes. Also, they have not fallen off completely
because of the ‘jugaad’ we had employed!! Sometimes these things come back to
bite us when we least expect it! Anyways, the river has become wider right here
and the left side seems to have a slower current where my partner drags me to
the edge and hangs on to a rock with one hand and me in the other while I get
myself together.
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Long
story short, we all five of us get rescued and asked if we want to take a ride
back in the vehicle or go back in the rafts. No incident like this is going to
get the better of us! We choose to raft back. After this, we are slightly
shaken but there is an inexplicable freedom I feel.... of ‘been there, done
that’ and now bring on whatever else and we will triumph over it! Looking back
I feel good that we did it!
Reaching
camp, we get mobbed. Most are horrified and almost everyone has seen it happen
since we were the first to go into those rapids and overturned in front of
them. While stories are told to a suitably reverent audience, lunch is polished
off.
The
second leg of the rally is flagged off from our camp by our senior-most member
and Team B heads out to Nubra Valley hoping to cross over Khardungla well
before sunset. In minutes, we are also off for a final round of shopping to
Leh. It is a pleasure to stroll on the main street with hawkers selling fresh
produce along the sidewalk and many curio shops lining the bustling city
centre. I pick up some ‘khurmani’ and ‘walnuts’ and we are done... Some of us
also shop around for some T-shirts and other souvenirs for family and friends back
home. We get back late to a delicious dinner of noodles and momos (on request)
prepared by the staff at camp. Final day here... we leave early tomorrow
morning flying out to Delhi and onwards to Goa.
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| Main street at Leh bazaar |
I
end my travelogue here thanking everyone who has read through this long, but I
hope not too tedious series leaving you with the last pictures I clicked from
the plane...
Adios!
Till we meet again...
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| A glacier is visible on the left side of the picture.... |
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| Looks almost like a model to explain what snow topped mountains look like -) |
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| The play of clouds among the high Himalayas |
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