It all happened brilliantly. We experienced no sickness, after Moz on day 1 in Leh, & the trek was absolutely fantastic.
Overall the scenery was out of this world & we can see why they built all those gompas so high up on the mountains as they are certainly very close to heaven or wherever. The geology/physical geography is amazing – the effects of those land masses colliding is seen everywhere. One day we walked through the three major rock types with sedimentary & igneous rocks on one side of
the river & metamorphic on the other. It is hard to describe in words but when we return we will bore you with the photos. Each day we finished walking by lunch time & relaxed until bedtime with books or chatting to other trekkers. Our group of 2 had a staff of 4 – a guide/cook, his helper & 2 horsemen. We also had 8 (no less) horses who were very well looked after &
never abused as our head horseman was very gentle & always smiling. The food was delicious & very varied & sometimes better than in the hotel, which tends to be similar to Chinese & more of the same. David complains that it is all vegetarian but Moz hardly notices or cares as long as potatoes figure on the menu.
The ponies were always our safety consideration if we should suffer altitude sickness & need to go down the mountain quickly, however our fitness training & short acclimatisation, with a little help from the little white pills (Diamox) helped us easily get over the 2 passes at 4,900m & 5,306m. It was actually harder descending down the long stretches once over the top. From
the Kongmaru La we had views of the Karakorram (?sp) & could see the large black tooth shape of K2 clearly. When we looked down the Marselang River valley side I was over-awed & the word that came to mind was in fact awesome in its true sense. The mountains went on for ever & they are not all a uniform brown colour even though it is a high desert. The words stark beauty come to mind for the browns, ochres & beiges but often there various shades
of green through to grey & magenta too. We are so glad we came & do not miss the absence of forests but have learned to appreciate the small plants that survive at such altitude such as cushion plants (like Tasmania), all colours of daisies, buttercups, gentians, wild rhubarb, wild celery & many more. Along the river banks grow willows & sweet smelling roses along the track. Our tent was very comfortable with thick mattresses but no TV. There is TV
in Leh when the electricity works, hence this hurried email before is disappears. Today has been R & R including walking around town all morning & taking photos of places & people with fascinating faces – & they are so happy to oblige too. Tomorrow we are off to Kargil which is west of here to overnight on our journey to Srinagar where we will relax on a houseboat & contact you from there. There are monasteries & plenty of mountains to wonder at on the way,
so we will not be bored.
