My First Solo Travelogue: Part Three

Day Three: 21.07.2018

I remembered that today we had our official monsoon trek to Naneghat. Last year I was the most enthusiastic for Visapur Trek and this year I didn't even registered. So today everyone would definitely get to know that I am up to something more adventurous than a monsoon trek. As usual we got a wake-up knock at 6am. We got ready and had breakfast at 7am, there was upma. Cornflakes and bread butter jam was also there. At 07:45am, we left for the elevated journey of rising 7000ft higher. We did get the camphor lockets: the camphor balls were put in a very small locket type pouch and tied with a black string.

The road journey was through the zig-zag twisted and turned roads and we were strictly informed for not to teach the driver. Our driver Stanzen seemed to be very religious for he always played the prayers while starting the day. I could see mountains shaking hands with each other. We had to drive five levels of elevation, whatever could be captured through the camera was done, but whatever got captured in the lens of my eyes, got a permanent print in my brain. As we proceeded to the Khardungla Pass, the air got colder and we had to put on our woollens and gloves. The mountain tops were covered with snow and there was fog as well.

Leaving Leh

Convoluted roads

Approaching the top

Khardung La

It is a mountain pass in Ladakh, a gateway to Shyok and Nubra valleys. Its the world's second highest motorable road pass. We got down of our vehicles, clicked some photos, did some video shooting of the amazing surroundings, etc. Then we started to descend towards Nubra Valley. We halted at Mid Way Restaurant for tea break at 11.30am.

Nubra Valley

The Shyok river meets the Siachen river to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram ranges. On the way to the our stay in Nubra, we did see the statue of Maitreya Buddha at Diskit. We were going to stay at Apple Cottage, it was in the heart of the valley. We reached there at 2pm and had our lunch. There were small tents and hammocks. The tents were locked using zips. 

I was waiting for some free time to fall in the hammock. The evening program was to ride the double humped camels. We had tea, coffee, maggi break at 4pm; then got into our vehicles for the Cold Desert.

Cold Desert

We crossed the Shyok river basin using the wooden open bridge. Its the only place in India where the double humped camel can be found. The Bactrian camel is a large even-toed ungulate native; it has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single humped dromedary camel. 

Winking Camel

Baby Camel

Few of us did ride the double humped camels: Meera Terdalkar, me, Mayuri, Trupti Supriya and Supriya, Meghana and Arti. I chose the youngest camel and it turned out to be the naughtiest one. We were instructed to lay back when the camel gets up. As soon as the first camel got up, mine also did the same, giving me no chance to do anything except holding its hump to balance myself. Don't know what connection did both the camels have; but my camel was just sticking to the first camel as if its his/her mother. My right leg was getting sandwiched between them, forget back pain here I was worried about my knee. When I tried to separate both, the camel owner shouted, "Kuch karo mat, apko niche gira dega!". It was an amazing ride for more than 15 minutes traversing through the desert. Horse riding was already done by me at Mahabaleshwar; now riding the rare species of camel also got a tick mark in my list.

It started drizzling for a while, we got into our vehicles and were back to Apple Cottage by 06:30pm. There was some free time available and I jumped into the hammock. Vedika and Mayuri were wandering around the place while Kanta and Charulata were sitting on the wooden chairs right next to me and started chitchatting. It was so peaceful, lying in the hammock, in the heart of the valley covered with tall straight trees and mountains. After a while, Kanta started to swing the hammock and I really enjoyed it. We both did talk on solo trips and half an hour just flew away. 

We all gathered at 07:15pm to shortlist participants for the Singing and Myboli competition. Many did sing very well but we had to shortlist only three: Swati Salvi, Aarti and Supriya Agashe was selected. Myboli competition was about talking on the given topic for 2 minutes strictly in your mother tongue, no English words. Many did give it a try and we got to know that we actually speak most of the English words in our daily conversations. Supriya Agashe, Seema Pokharker and Trupti were shortlisted. Sarvesh sang the song, "Gulabi aankhen" and Pravin sang, "Ek zhopda banayenge". Done with all the performances, the campfire was lit. The last campfire I was a part of, was at Mahuli Fort with my school friends and now this one is with a crowd with just 3 days old friendship. Also I got a flashback of being the Blue House Captain and shortlisting students for all the competitions happening in that year. Looking at the campfire, my mind did travel 10 years back; but I returned to the present when the music was on. Girls started dancing; it was a DJ evening in the valley. We had dinner at 9pm and were off to our tents to sleep. Next day program was already informed during the campfire. Co-travelers do put in your experience of the day in the comments below.

Read next: My First Solo Travelogue: Part Four