We started from Leh on Saturday. Morning there was snowfall so we had to delay our start. We started at around 10 am and went first to avillage called Nyoma. We reached there at around 5pm. It was around minus 2 deg C when we landed there. We stayed at a home stay there at night (a home stay is nothing but a villager's house where they rent out a room for tourists). We had dal and rice and salt tea (ya u heard it right, it is salt tea) for dinner (btw the lunch on the way was also dal and rice). At night it started snowing heavily at night and the loo here made us think of the loo at the hostel in Leh, a heavenly one.
We got up in the morning on Sunday and started at around 0830 hrs after a breakfast of bread and apricot jam. We then proceeded to Tsomoriri. We reached Tsomoriri at around 1.30 pm. At Tsomoriri there was a village get together to mark the start of the sowing season. So the village looked deserted when we reached there. We waited for the villagers to get the Lama's blessings and come back. By the time they came back it was around 3.30pm and we were terribly hungry. Found a home stay here too and then had lunch at 4.30pm. Guess wat it was...dal and rice once again !!! There was a beautiful frozen lake at Tsomoriri. We walked on the frozen lake. Since we did not have anyone to guide us, we did not venture far into the lake as we do not know where it might crack.
Btw this place is just 50 kms (approx.) from the Indo-China border. However we cannot go beyond this village as it is extremely risky. In this area the border is not clearly drawn (as in no barbed wire or fence - since it is still under dispute post the Indo-China war). One will come to know whether he/ she has crossed the border only when the Chinese start firing from the other end. So the Indo-Tibet border police do not allow any civilians to go beyond this village which is 50 kms from the border.
We came back and had dinner (now am not going to repeat wat it was...here after wenever i mention lunch or dinner u can safely assume it is dal and rice). The night sleep was a memorable one. The temperature outside the room was around minus 10 to minus 12 deg C. Inside the room it would hav atleast been minus 2 deg. (as mentioned by the owner of the home stay). I was wearing 5 layers of clothing. Over and above we were given a blanket. We could not sleep beyond 2 am as the cold became even worse. We were waiting for the sunrise. Things began to feel good beyond 6.30 am. We were lucky tat the window was east facing and hence the sunlight filled the room. We were given a bucket of water to freshen up ourselves. When i went out to use the water I found two donkeys standing near the bucket of water and the state of water in the bucket created a doubt in my mind as to if the donkeys were drinking from the same bucket!!! However since there was no other alternative I just closed my eyes and said a prayer and used the water to brush my teeth!!!
Then post breakfast (barley roti and butter), we went to Tsokar. Here too there was a frozen lake and it was in the middle of a cold desert. Tsokar has only few nomads who stay in tents. So no hope of getting anything for lunch. We could not even get drinking water. Now it was already 1 pm and we were terribly hungry and thirsty. The frozen lake water cannot be heated to drink as the water is salty and not good todrink. We decided to start our journey back to Leh. After a journey of another 3 hrs we finally reached a village Chumathang. We finally gotsomething to eat and most important of all some good water to drink!!!
Then after a journey of another 4 hrs we finally reached the hostel in Leh (home sweet home atlast).
Some special mentions regarding this trip
1. Due to the cold climate none of us could change our clothes even once. So we were wearing the same clothes (almost 5 layers) all the three days.
2. This implies that there is no question of taking bath (the bath at Leh after we came back gave a heavenly feel)
3. There was no internet, no mobile network, not even a working STD booth in any of these villages. If at all we were stuck anywhere we wud have had to wait for any villagers or the army to rescue us. :)
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