Day 9: Lamayuru – Wanla

Today is the first day of the trek. Hoping for the best. Trekking in Ladakh is a different ball game. It’s a bit risky due to the low O2 levels at high altitude. Even if one is reasonably fit, how the body responds to the high altitudes is a critical factor. So acclimatisation plays a very big role here.
 
 The last 2 days of rest definitely helped us in the preparation. For me a 3 day rest before would have been ideal. The guys from Ladakh Calling – Sid and Deep – came to pick us up by 7:30 am. Then it’s a 3 hr ride to Lamayuru monastery along the Leh – Srinagar highway. AS before the landscape was stunning. At the beginning we were along the Indus river. After some time we reached the meeting point of Indus with Zanskar. The Indus was blue in colour and the Zanskar was muddy. So at the meeting of the 2 mighty rivers the river was multi-coloured. The two rivers after joining runs as the mighty Indus downstream.

We reached the Lamayuru monastery at around 11:45 am. One of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, the legend says that the whole place was under a lake before. The lake flowed away when the monk prayed for a place to build the monastery. Whether there is any truth in the legend or not, the whole place is surrounded by moon like landscape which is completely different from the surrounding landscape. Again an unbelievable breathtaking landscape!

After visiting the monastery we started our Lamayuru -  Alchi trek at around 12:30 pm. The clouds in the sky helped in reducing the heat. On the way to Lamayuru we picked up our porter. A young guy named Ringchen, who lives in a nearby village. He was also going for the trek for the first time. Our bags weighed around 18 kg and I was wondering whether he will finish the trek with this heavy luggage.

 

The trek was not so easy as expected as I was doing such a long trek after about a year. I know it’s a cheap excuse as it’s all about fitness and conditioning. The low O2 is another factor, or the most important factor, and it made our going slow. We started at around 3500 m altitude at Lamayuru, climbed down and then climbed up again. We climbed to the highest pass for today at 3800 m – Prinkit La. It was not easy going I should admit. As expected I was also the slowest. But somehow I managed it. With the first high altitude pass conquered, from then on it was just descending. We stopped on a small river bank for the lunch. The water was so crystal clear that we could directly drink from it without any concern. Then we proceeded further to the village Wanla. We stayed in a neighbouring village to Wanla.

We reached there around 4 pm. The homestay accommodation was very luxurious than we expected. The whole house was really big, must be one of the very well off families in the village. Our room was bath attached with a heater for warm water!!! The village had electricity from 7 pm – 11 pm. The family was very nice to us. It’s a small family with a baby and a grandfather. We had a good rest in the evening. Though I have to admit it was not the kind of accommodation that I was expecting from a Ladakhi village; this was a really luxurious homestay.

Some info to the homestay treks. The homestays have their own association in Ladakh. Each village has a list of houses that have agreed to be the host for the tourists. It’s normally displayed at the entrance of the village. And the owners take turns to play hosts to the tourists according to the order in the list. In that way each house will get the chance to be the host. In case of arranged trips like ours, we do not pay the homestay directly. Our cash dealings are only with the tour agent. They pay our rents to the association directly and they in turn will distribute to the villagers directly. I found the system really nice as it definitely had an impact on the lives of the villagers and also it gives all of them a chance.