Camping in Nubra

Last night was the World Cup Finals. The World Cup happens only once in four years, and this time, the team that I was supporting was in the finals-Spain. So at 12 am (which is when the game starts in India) I got up and turned the TV on. I was all set to see Spain beat the Netherlands (at least, that’s what I hoped to see happen). At 12:01 am, the light went out. It never came back. The prayers to Vishnu, Shiva, Allah, Jesus Christ, and all other Gods remained unanswered. I missed the only game I really cared about in the entire World Cup.
Moving on, Nubra Valley was the destination of today’s trip. The Ladakh region has a few valleys: Leh Valley, Nubra Valley, and Zansakar Valley. We were currently staying in Leh Valley, now we were going to travel to Nubra Valley to see some other famous sights of Ladakh. We left at 9 am, and because of what happened yesterday at Lake Pangong, my mother, brother, and I only ate a Nutri-grain bar for breakfast. The route was as follows: 40 km to Khardung-la Pass, which is the highest mountain pass in the world that can be traveled by car, and then 80 km down to the valley. Before Khardung-la Pass we would cross South Pullu, a village and military checkpoint, and after the pass, we would pass North Pullu, a military checkpoint. Karma ensured us that only the road from South Pullu to North Pullu would be bad. Nevertheless, my mother and brother took Avomin (nicknamed Vomit-stop, for what it supposedly should do). While driving up the mountain, Karma showed us the medicine he had brought for himself (to improve blood circulation and breathing). It consisted of 13 herbs mixed together that were formed into a ball. I had already taken medicine this morning (Panadol, a cold medicine 20 million times better than Dayquil), so I declined the offer, but my mother tried one. It was extremely bitter, but she said later that it was helping her breathe at the high altitude.

After hitting my head a few times on the glass window, we finally reached Khardung-la Pass. It was 18,360 feet above sea level, which was higher than the Chung-la Pass, but somehow, breathing was easier today than it was yesterday. As I climbed out of the back seat, the cold immediately hit. Even though I was wearing a sweatshirt, it was freezing. In fact, after about two minutes, it began snowing at the peak. Snow in July, in the northern hemisphere as well. Amazing.

After that we began our descent down the mountain. I drifted in and out of sleep; something about the bumpiness of the ride was quite sleep-inducing. We reached North Pullu, where my parents and grandmother and grandfather had chai. I’m not a big fan of chai (I like coffee better), so I decided to pass. That was apparently a mistake. After drinking some of the water that was flowing through the stream in the back of the restaurant (straight from the Himalayas, so I’m pretty sure it was pure water), we headed out to the town of Khalsar, where we would be having lunch. As we got out of the car, I was so nauseous that I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to hold it in until I got a bag out of the backpack. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. I took Vomit-Stop, and proceeded to eat lunch. We ate at a small restaurant, the size of a stall, and I shared Maggi noodles with my brother. Maggi is the Indian equivalent of Ramen, except much better. I felt better afterwards. Lesson learned: always eat breakfast.

We finally got to our hotel, Mystique Meadows (located in a village called Sumur). Outside our hotel was a stream that was running through the streets. I’m almost positive that that water comes from the Himalayas, as almost every stream here originates in the Himalayas. Our hotel wasn’t really a hotel. It was more like a series of tents that were set up next to each other. For someone who has never camped before, I was slightly apprehensive about living in a tent. We had two tents, a “girls” tent and a “boys” tent. I opened the flap of our tent (there were no doors, just flaps of cloth that could be zippered to the main fabric of the tent) and peeked inside. There were three single beds, a small table, and a small mirror, and a single lantern hanging from the top of the tent. As a precautionary measure, there was a candle and a box of matches on the table. At the back of the tent, there was another zippered flap. It was the bathroom. The floor was made of rocks, but at least there was a toilet, a sink, and a shower type set-up. That shower was only a cold water shower; to have hot water (which was again starting from 6 am and ending at 9). Seeing as I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, lying in a bed with a comforter and hoping that the wind would die down, I would probably be taking hot showers. Oh, and power would only come from 7:30 pm to 11 pm. We reached the camp at 4:30, dinner was served at 7:30, so for three hours, my family and I played theen-do-panch (translated to 3-2-5, an Indian card game) and Black Queen (which is like Hearts).

At 7:30, we went to eat dinner. We thought that power would come, but nope. It didn’t. As we learned, there was no way of regulating how people used power. The government would just turn the power on, and electricity would flow through the wires. Our camp managers through a hook over the wire and that’s how we were supposed to get power. It was windy today, so the connection was loose. We had a candlelight, completely vegetarian dinner. His Holiness, the Dalai Llama XIV, was going to come to Nurba on the 21st, so until then, everyone had to have vegetarian food. After dinner, we headed back to the tents. It was 8:30 at this time, to early to go to bed, but there was no electricity. Everything had to be done with candlelight: changing, brushing, etc. Going to the bathroom in the dark was a terrifying experience. At 9 pm, the candle was blown out.