Leaving the Himalayas

Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007--Leh

Siam, the manager of the coffee house had today off, so he suggested that we go outside of town to one of the villages with a nice temple and monastery. We run into trouble immediately. He picked me up at 10:00, and when we got to the bus station all buses were going to the site where the Dalai Lama is speaking. It's his outdoor congregation grounds where he comes each summer. We couldn't get a bus to where we wanted to go. Then we decided to take the bus to where the Dalai Lama is speaking and see if we could get a continuing bus from there to where we wanted to go. After eating a breakfast of spicy Tibetan noodle soup with chunks of mutton and a mutton dumpling in it, we took a bus to the speaking site. It was a fascinating place. Thousands of people were there wearing native costumes according to their home villages in the mountains. They overflowed a huge tent. We could hear a voice over the speakers but had no way of knowing if it was the Dalai Lama or someone else speaking. They had constructed special bus stations on different sides of town, so we had to walk a ways to get to the other side of the speaking grounds to find the buses for where we wanted to go. But none of them were leaving. They were all waiting for the the day's meeting to end at 14:00. We gave up trying to go anywhere else and came back into town on one of the return buses like we had taken to get there. The buses were full and had crowds of young guys sitting on the tops of them.

I returned to my room and fell asleep. It was a long nap in deep sleep, but I felt so good afterwards. Then I took out my pants that had been repaired but not cleaned and started soaking them in cold water to get the blood spots from my cut knee out of them. I then read until Siam came to pick me up for dinner.

We went to a place downtown selling local food. Siam had already eaten, since he is from northeastern India and traditionally eats foods that are different from what is served here. But he helped me eat part of the momos (dumplings) I ordered. Then I ate a plate of vegetarian chop suey. We shared a big bottle of apple juice.

By then, it was almost 22:00, so I went back to my room and Siam went to his home. Even though I had napped, I was still tired from the sunshine we got during the morning.

Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007--Leh

I'm allergic to the dust here. Until last night, I have spent every night with breathing problems. Each night, I would eventually get up and use the leftover ear drops from my medications for my infection in Indonesia to try to clear my nasal passages. Whereas the drops normally work for 24 hours, though, they would clear my passages here for only about 3-4 hours. That's why I wouldn't use them when going to bed. I would clear my nose as best as possible and sleep until I couldn't breathe anymore. Fortunately, last night, my nasal passages stayed clear. I don't know why. I was still out in the dust a lot. Anyway, I slept better than I have been sleeping lately and I didn't have to use the nose drops.

The first thing I did this morning was wash the pants I had left soaking overnight. I hung them on the towel rack in the bathroom and opened the window so that the fresh air would come inside and dry them.

I decided to have a western breakfast today. I went to a German bakery and cafe and ordered their set breakfast. I had an omelette, great hash brown potatoes, and a large bread roll that had been sliced, toasted, and spread with butter and jam. I had milk tea to go with it.

After breakfast, I decided to walk out of town a different direction from where I have been before. I wandered through the old town (which truly is old with buildings that give the impression that one is walking through a town 2000 years ago) and came across a road heading up into the hills. I followed it past some very nice, quiet guesthouses. Eventually, I came to a small village. There, I crossed a stone fence that had toppled and sat on top of another stone fence in the shade of a tree and relaxed for a while enjoying the fresh air and the nice view of the snow-capped Himalayas in the distance. I didn't see any reason to continue walking further, so I turned back toward town.

I returned to my room and spent about 3 hours relaxing. I read from the book I have been reading, I reviewed the travel literature for the towns I will be visiting this next week here in India, and I eventually started reviewing the travel literature for Latvia and Estonia, since I will be going there in only a little over two weeks. Then I headed back into town. I stopped at the place where I have had a lassi (yogurt-fruit drink) every day. And now I am at the cyber cafe. I will go to the coffee house when I leave here. Then I will have an early dinner. Tomorrow begins the trip I have been dreading.

Tomorrow morning, I have to be at the bus at 4:45. We will travel for 14 hours through the Himalayas going southward and will cross the second-highest pass with a road crossing in the world. We will stop for photos, for breakfast and lunch, and eventually for dinner and sleeping. Sleeping will be in tents. Then the next day, we will start again at 7:00 and travel another 8-9 hours before getting to our destination of Manali--the next big town south of here. It will be an exciting trip, but I imagine it will be exhausting, frustrating, scary (sides of roads with deep drop-offs and no railings), etc. I'll be glad when I am in Manali and write you that it is in the past.