My First Solo Travelogue: Part Two

Day Two: 20.07.2018

It was a pleasant morning and we got a wake up knock and bed-tea at 6am. We got ready for the day. Today's dress code was green; for spreading greenery in Leh. We came down for breakfast; light ladakhi music was in the air. Having skipped dinner yesterday, I voraciously ate parathas. Done with the breakfast, the girls in green had a group photo in the garden. We were divided into different groups for the road journey vehicle. Now I don't remember my vehicle number but it was easy to recognize since it was the only one in maroon and rest of them were white. My group had Kanta Ugale (she sat on the front seat), the trio Vidya, Supriya and Mayuri sat on middle seat while Charulata Goythale and myself were at the backseat. Since we all were comfortable with our seats so we didn't change the order throughout the journey.  I had an assumption that I can't sit at the back, and so I used to fight and convince other members during official tours to let me sit on the front seat. Also I hated road journeys. So now was the time to get over all this and I did enjoy backseat photography, taking due care of my newly bought One Plus 6. Each scenic beauty on the way was catchy enough to capture in the camera. The Women Special Group from Pune joined us at each sightseeing location. We reached our first sightseeing location at 08:30am. Vatsal welcomed us with "Juley!". It means good to see you.

Shey Palace

It is located on a hillock in Shey, on Leh-Manali road, the milestones indicated the distance to Manali. The palace was used as a summer retreat by the kings of Ladakh. We had to walk along the steep road. Vatsal elaborated on the story, you can also read the below snippet:

We started ascending the steps made in groups of eight and twisting and turning sometimes right, sometimes left. There was a big prayer wheel. The mantra Om Ma Ni Padme Hum is carved on it. We have to rotate it in clockwise direction.

There was a butter lamp and a stupa. A stupa contains relics, there were many stones kept around it carved in tibetan language. There is a base, four elevations describing love, compassion, joy and equality; then there are seven steps taken by Buddha at birth + one more step. Then at the top, there is sun and moon. 

Below structure stupas could be found at many places, adjacent to every residency, at the edges of the road etc:

The reflection of the palace could be viewed in the opposite lake:

We proceeded towards the upper shrine, here is the giant statue of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha.

All Iz Well School

We reached the Druk White Lotus School at 10.30am. We were briefed on its history, how it stood back to base after hit by a flood, how it got selected for the 3Idiots film, etc. There were souvenirs for sale: fridge magnets of the idiotic wall, key-chains, Rancho T-shirts, post cards, coffee mugs, Virus zero gravity look-alike pen etc. There was a shop having Himalayan culture dresses, few did try out the northern wears:

There was a Ranchos Cafe, it did remind of college days:

Finally the school building, it was so stretched to fit in the frame:

We proceeded to The Idiotic Wall, on the way there were many small rooms and a basket ball court. There were boys playing volleyball. A group of girls was busy picking stones on the path and putting the heap in a corner. 

Play Area, made of wooden objects

Finally we reached the wall, the wall is the one wherein Chatur got an electric shock for you know what he was doing. The wall contains a picture of the 3Idiots sitting on bum-seats and an electric bulb. The area was so crowded and I was unsure whether I would get a picture of mine. Sarvesh did help me and I got this photo:

Hemis Monastery

At 12pm, we were at the footsteps of the wealthiest and biggest monastery in Leh. Its well known for the Hemis festival wherein the locals get dressed up in traditional ladakhi dresses and there are folk dances and many cultural programmes. First we went into the Hemis museum. Here again there were souvenirs for sale: key-chains, prayer wheels, caps, books on ladakh and hemis, etc.

We were not allowed to carry anything inside the museum, they provided lockers to keep our belongings. The museum was in basement. The first thing we saw was a bicycle of those days. Then we did see a lot of things and a lot of information was given by Vatsal. There were war weapons, tiger skin, snow leopard skin, utensils, masks of guardians and protectors, tea kettles, different statues of various versions of Buddha and stories of its origin, etc. We did spend too much time there, that we missed to visit the actual monastery due to lunch break. 

We had lunch at Hotel Chamba Resort at around 2pm. There was a Labrador dog at the entrance, as if to welcome us. Don't know whether the below picture is a monastery, but it was worth capturing:

We got back to Hotel Kanishka (this was our home now) and slept. Many did go for a walk till the market, after having tea. There was a folk dance arranged in our hotel for some guests. I came downstairs, random talks were going on the table between Param, Vedika Kulkarni, Radhika Suresh and Sarvesh. I joined them. Later when the lot returned from the market, we all did sit in the garden and started talking. Then we divided ourselves in two groups for Antakshari, I am putting down the initial names, many did join later:

Group 1: Aarti Mhatre, me, Trupti Hathi, Gauri Pandit, Param

Group 2: Supriya, Mayuri, Vedika, Vaijayanti Arnalkar, Arti, Meghana

The most enthusiastic was Trupti (we called her Dayaa ben of our group), here when our minds got in the process of recollecting a song, she actually went ahead to start singing the song with actions. We were so engrossed into singing that we didn't realize that the sun has left already and we were in moonlight. We did make others come out of their rooms and join in the fun. At 08:30pm, we went in for dinner. Next day's plan was explained by Pravin and Sarvesh. We had to pack for a day, since we would be staying in Nubra Valley. We were also informed about the kind of weather, what all is must to carry, the road condition, etc. Truly speaking the roads were way better than those in Mumbai (rashtyat khadde ki khadyat raste!); all the maintenance credit goes to BRO (Border Road Organisation).

Packing for a day wasn't an easy task. Only the necessary things have to be carried. The most important thing was to charge our mobiles. The very thought of reaching above 18000ft was too exciting to sleep, but I had to doze off. Co-travelers do put in your experience of the day in the comments below.

Read next: My First Solo Travelogue: Part Three