Mountain Goats

WOW!!! ...infact...DOUBLE WOW!!!!

As we said, we have spent the last two weeks in the Himalaya's and somehow the words we write will never quite describe what it felt like to be standing close to the top of the world!

Having spent a few days in Shimla, we arranged a tour through a trekking agency and were paired with a couple from Austria and another from Belgium. Vincent and An from Belgium, had been working and travelling in India for 8 months. As an Architect and Anthropologist they were based at an NGO in Kerala. Woolfgang and Ruth from Austria, had been working on a one year celebration festival of Mozart's birthday in Vienna, and had taken 3 months off to travel in India. The agency arranged a driver and an experienced guide. So full of excitement off we went...

Its pretty difficult (and long) to explain every detail of the trip as it was action packed with lots of moving and plenty new experiences.... it almost needs a whole new blog on its own.... but we will try to summarise as much as possible!!


The People.
As previously mentioned, we were 6 with a guide and a driver. We spent the first morning figuring out little differences between the Belgians Flemish and Afrikaans, which was pretty strange. Eventually - after 10 days - we were pretty good at speaking Flemish!

The guide, Niggi, was a Himalayan born local and extremelyinformative, helpful and kind. He spent hours with us daily, explaining temples, monasteries, mountain ranges, local traditions, vegetation and answering any questions we had... he even went as far as to order for us in the restaurants as the languages of the region changed daily, making life a little complicated.

All in all, we got on pretty well, which is important in if you are going to spend 11 days together in a jeep.


The Roads.
Give me Chapmans Peak, blind folded on a turbo charged skateboard any day of the week!! Apparently we were travelling on National Highway 22, but it really seamed so - well we are certain it doesn't deserve the title of 'highway' by any stretch of the imagination. The road was predominately a mixture of broken asphalt, pebbles and stones. Always in a single lane, one side a mountain of rock, the other, an average of at least a 300 metre sheer drop down a cliff onto more rock!


Still hard to imagine? Add in a few building sites, stoppages for rock blasting above our heads (??), melting glaciers causing miniature rivers, buses and trucks coming the other direction and a gazillion u-bends, you've got a pretty good idea of what it was like. Each day held its own special surprise as some of the roads were only opened about a week earlier due to landslides and snow conditions. But the consistencies were there too... bumpy and dusty were a daily given. On some days we didn't pass another vehicle, really underlying how remote we really were.

However saying all of this, our driver Vicky was unbelievably patient, cautious and calm when dealing with all of this and calmness was always restored with a pitstop in the middle of nowhere for a toilet break and to take in the magnificent scenery.




The Himalayas.
Our journey took us from Shimla (2000m above sea level) went east thru the districts of Kinnuar and Sangla - both Alpine looking areas with high, snow capped mountains and lush, green filled valleys below.
Every day and every turn revealed an amazing view with some truly spectacular scenery. Its hard to explain as you can never really feel the wind on your face, the smell of fresh mountain air and truly, how small and insignificant you are compared to the mountains.

Every day would start with an early morning walk, whether it be a tour of a monastery or temple or just a simple hike up a river bed to take in the local people and their lives. Our guide was exceptional when describing local conditions and truly knew his way round these rather varied landscapes.

Days 2 and 3 were much of the same scenery but different villages. Each village was somehow completely different from each other but at no time did the populations for each area reach over 500.

Day 4 took us to the district of Lahul and Spiti, 15kms from the border with Nepal and in to an area called the Trans-Himalayas. its lack of vegetation with all the surrounding mountains being a combination of granite, sand and sedimentary rock topped with snow capped peaks - the land burnt sand What we thought was beautiful scenery in the last few days was abruptly disturbed by the drive to the village of Nako (3400m). The trans Himalayas is characterised byblonde. It was truly breathtaking, this barren, sand blasted landscape with prefect blue skies and white icing topped mountains rising out of steep valleys. Naturally the road got worse as we got higher and more remote, but the views from the window more than compensated for the conditions!

Days 5-8 were much the same. We visited further villages of Kalpa (3400m) and Kaza (3600m) with numerous other visits to important other places, morning treks and local homestays. It was really interesting to witness daily village life - where the seasons dictates the lifestyles they live. In some places we visited, they would be cut-off from any supply routes for 4 months of the year due to the weather. With nothing to do, all the men just drink and play cards all winter.. I briefly considered moving there!

As we got progressively more remote, we would see less and less cars on the road and the state of the guesthouses also reflected the remoteness of our situation. A few occasions we were left without any hot or even running water. Point: taking a bucket shower in melted glacier water can take your breathe away!

However, as mentioned previously, all of this was a small price to pay to see the views.



The Food.
At first exciting, by the end, ridiculous!

As we left civilisation further behind, so too did the options on the menu. The first few days were the general Indian fare of rice, chappatis (flatbread), dal (lentils) and a few other curry options - definitely edible and now again you were indulged by the freshness of the food.

By the time we reached the outlying places that are highly influenced by the Tibetan communities, the menu became very simple... in fact too simple. Your options were...

Momo's (veg filled steam dumplings)
Thupka (veg noodle soup)
Chow Mein
Omelettes
Chappatti's
Tea and
Water

That is it!! Nothing more, nothing less. Not even rice! Breakfast, lunch and dinner, the same fare. The restaurants didn't even have any menus as there was no point. Obviosuly, the hygiene and the 'service' dipped too. At one place, the only restaureant in the village - we waited for over 90 minutes for a combination of the items listed above - and we were the only customers! Even finding a pack of biscuits was sometimes a problem but they, in the end, became a substitute for a meal as variety was fast becoming a higher preference than nutrition. Needless to say, if we ever see any of these items again it will be too soon.



After 8 long days, it was sadly time to turn around as the roads ahead (over 4400m) were still closed. Another 3 days in the jeep really took its toll as we drove back round the circuit we had just covered, but was punctuated by some good stops for food in the local dhabas (street cafes - variety was now up t0 10 dishes including drinks!!!), small morning treks and the usual, stop for the toilet and have-a-look-at-the-scenery break from driving!


So, a bit tired, a bit groggy from being thrown around in the jeep and definitely a lot hungry, we arrived in Dharmasala two days ago. Time for rest and relaxation. We now we have the views of the mountains from the comfort of our balcony, a clean, new hotel with satellite tv. ... ah.. the best of both worlds!