THE LADAKH EXPERIENCE
It’s been about 3 months now, well, some days short of it, since my visit to ladakh. The one place that I was waiting to see for over a couple of years now. Little did I know that every bit of my anxiety was gonna be fed, my thirst would finally get quenched, only to make me thirstier.
Such is the magic of the place, its almost like a spell that’s been cast upon me. Everything that I do, every waking moment is shadowed by thoughts of ladakh. Thoughts, of two natures, one that revel in the experience that I had in September and the second, one that fantasizes my next trip there.
Just the entry to that sacred space captivates like nothing else does. When I got out of the air deccan aircraft and walked into the cab bay of the mini airport that handles thousands of thirsty travellers, domestic and international, I got a tingling sensation that nothing, nothings gonna be ordinary here. The rinpoche airport is flanked on all 4 sides by the great Himalayan range, karakoram range and the stok range of mountains. This results in a very immediate realization, one that involves you feeling like an ant, dwarfed by the enormity of Mother Nature and her creations. What also dawns upon you is the sudden drop in temperature, the otherwise chilly aircraft cabins that we got out of couple of minutes back, feel comfortably warm compared to the chill that’s now navigating up my spine and resulting in an involuntary rattling motion of my teeth. Its beautiful, but its ruthless.
The drive from the airport to the hotel is hardly a 5 minute one. But within those 5 minutes, I got a taste of ladakhi landscape, architecture, air, sounds and most importantly people. The briskness with which the cab drivers loaded our baggage on the carriers of the maruti omnis, the weather notwithstanding; the gentleness with which each one of them cleared the check posts, traffic jam notwithstanding; their liveliness, lifelessness of the landscape notwithstanding; their smiles, their sweet language, and above all… their eyes, almost all of them embedded in heavily wrinkled faces. I hoped, and over the next 8 days in the region, experienced that beauty in ladakh is beyond the obvious.
There is beauty, lots of it, behind those heavily wrinkled faces. There is a peculiar freshness beyond the almost cavemanish stench of the locals. There is a comprehension beyond the alien sounds of the ladakhi language, a comprehension aided by the incessant smile that’s as fixed on people’s faces, as the Himalayas on the lap of the earth.
Everything that you see in ladakh immediately gets tagged among the superlatives, the highest, the world’s tallest, and worlds largest, etc. these terms fall more often on ears than ever before. On our way to the airport, we passed the highest altitude civilian petrol pump in the world, bang opposite which we saw quite a peculiar structure, a concrete shelter housing a huge cylinder shaped object revolving around its centre. I know its sounding really vague, to cut it short, it is called a Prayer wheel. So this prayer wheel has text inscribed in Tibetan, which is basically the Buddhist chant “Om Mani Padme hoom”.
We pass through a narrow street which looks like more or less the only main road of the town of leh from the airport. To the left hand side of the narrow street are signboards and bildings of a lot of hotels. Most hotels wear the look of a newly constructed building, some of them are still being worked upon. But one thing jumps out clear from all the hotel buildings, and that is, the heavy use of local wood and the design patterns, the intricate work and the deep mahogany polish adorning it. 5 minutes are up, and we are driving down in the slope that’s the entrance to Hotel Bijoo. No, its not the french word ‘bijou’ meaning jewel misspelled, its actually the name of the co-owner, the other owner being Aashiqbhai. A traditional welcome awaits us, where beige silk stolls are gifted as souveniers and room nos. and keys allotted. After getting my camera equipment and personal baggage in the room, I headed straight to the dining room for breakfast, its funny, when you wake up at 3 am to catch a flight you feel super hungry by 730-8, n otherwise one is happily in deep slumber at that hour. Anyways, some hot omelettes, a glass of milk and toast jam, which would keep me happy till lunch. A full stomach also easily inspired me to hit the bed, to get that much essential nap that our tour head atma had prescribed.
Ladakh has harsh weather, especially for first timers to the region. The altitude thins down the air, resulting in a rarefied atmosphere, straining your lungs and your blood circulation to maintain optimum levels of oxygen in the body. Its not as scary as it sounds, but you could lose a precious couple of days if you don’t pay heed to the acclimatization advise. That’s right, acclimatization, means getting your body used to the atmosphere, and to do that, you have to do nothing, quite literally. One needs to slumber out the 1st 24 hours in ladakh, eat, sleep, wake up, eat again, sleep, eat some more, sleep some more. Depending on your fitness levels, you’ll either feel perfectly at home with the weather or have a slight headache or worse, start throwing up endlessly. Altitude does unknown things to your body; people feel pain in random places, jaws, forehead, knees, elbows, fingers, nose, the works. All of this just adds more character to the travel experience. (read as humor)