Am I lazy ? Yes a bit. Another reason that I havent completed my travellogues is once the moment is gone , I dont think I will be able to recreate it, there are so many strands to it, I will not be able to do justice to it if I miss some. But some days back, I dreamt of Ladakh, visuals through the trekking days.... it felt as if I am there again, quite vivid and how beautiful , clear blue skys snow capped peaks , a nice breeze , sheeps grazing in a distance, silence ......solitude ....
How different it was in the jungle , almost every moment I feared of snakes.....
It was still drizzling, the sky overcast and dawn breaking through. I was not very sure of doing this, I felt a bit tired from travelling contniously for about 24 hrs and a general lack of sleep. Having come all this way I couldnt muster the courage to tell me to go back.One thing that trekkers do is totell a whole bunch of lies , to themselves, cause once you admit to yourself that its getting difficult , it will become more difficult. So instead you focus on the positives and then you begin to enjoy it.
After walking a while, we stopped near a bridge on what looked like a small river, it ahd a stiff current and we knew we were going to cross it somewhere. It looked mre like a challenge than a risk. Our trek was to follow along the banks of this river upstream deep into the forest. Time to introduce "God and Priest", this was my first trip with travellerz club and these guys "Sridhar and LSP" are undisputed gang leaders, especially Sridhar , a veteran trekker, aware of all the little things that comes only with experience. In a trek its very important to have a leader, whom people follow without questions, he decides when to stop, when to start , where to camp, there is no room for confusion. From a group perspective, you can be confident that the trek is in safe hands and you can concentrate on the job at hand. This was the first trek where I was carrying all my supllies, it was difficult and added a dimension to the whole experience.
After confirming witha local villager, we were on our way to Ombattu Gudde. The first thing that hits you in a Western Ghats forest is the humidity, water was really condensing through any exposed surface, along with that rotting leaves, a nat geo forest, birds chripping away, overcast conditions all added to the resolve!. After a while people stopped chatting, the immediate goal was to reach the camp site by night fall.
So God and priest set the pace, and that was seriously fast pace, I consider my pace to be fast enough but soon I was falling behind. In a jungle trek where there is a fair chance of gettign lost, you always walk in a group and maintain eye contact. So it was the responsibility of the guy walking in front to ensure that he can see the one behind. THat way the onus is always on teh fast walkers.
Leeches someone shouted. I bent down to take a closer look and there they were small slimy creatures crawling all over , The forest floor was teeming with these all over, one had even managed to reach my arm. These dudes just wait to latch on to anythign that passes by and once they latch onto your shoes they find their way to the exposed skin , just above your socks, They have a natural anesthetic so you wont feel their bite.
After walking about 3 hrs we reached the river crossing, we were on schedule we had planned to reach this place by 10:30 rest here and make the final dash for the camp site, which was abt 2 hrs from this river crossing. After a leech cleaning session, they were all over , inside teh socks, shoes and smelled awful. We decided to first cross the river and then rest.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Ombattu Gudda Trek: Day 1
Oct 2nd, 2008: As discussed we reached the Kachiguda railway station, at 5:30PM, first to reach was Shiv and then the others streamed in. Everyone had a story to tell, so we all settled in nicely. Train travel was not that bad, in fact it was quite comfortable, if you can just ignore the lingering smell. We reached Banglore around 8:30 AM, checked into a dorm, and after the morning chores and a heavy breakfast in Kamat caught the bus to Hasan from Majestic. The bus stop is pretty conveniently located in front of the railway station, the back pack was beginning to feel quite heavy, with all the walking around, I just hoped somehow magically I would be able to carry the load during the trek.
The drive to Hasan was pretty good, it was a national highway so the road conditions were good enough to maintain a good speed. Karnataka has a pretty good public bus transport station, very basic but very good, I am told thats it is the case with all the other southern states as well. Another interesting thing to note was there were lady bus conductors, which is just not possible in North. The passengers were all well behaved,decent, and the lady conductors looked quite confident, and later during the trip I found lady bus conductors for late night buses as well. It was so nice to see that.
I never buy the feminist crap, there should be reservations, there should be separate things ...separate queues... blah blah blah, what i think is required is a little respect , and confidence on the fairer sex, and they will rise to the occasion. They can walk shoulder to shoulder do what men do. They dont need any kid glove treatment, in fact no one needs, all that we should aim for is equal opportunity. That way we dont have to compromise on quality and we will have confident workforce. Being a bus conductor is a pretty demanding job, and they were doing it so comfortably.
On the way we exchanged what ever research each one has done so far. From the various blogs that we had read, it certainly looked like a difficult trek. There was a good chance of getting lost, and all the groups seemed to carry the survey of India maps. we didnt have those. There was also mention of elephants and bears, perfect challenge we thought, though the mention of vipers in some of the blogs made us a bit uneasy.
We finally reached Hasan around 2:30 PM, had lunch in Kadamba restaurant, that I am told is a govt run restaurants at bus stops. Again the food was basic and we were hungry anyway.The plan now was to travel to Halebidu and Belur temples and finally to Sakhilaspura, which is on the Banglore Mangalore highway. Early morning we are supposed to catch a bus to Gundaya check post and from there the trek will begin.
Halibidu was spectacular, much better preserved than other temples, we spent about an hour there and took lot of pics. As usual there were great number of peoples around. When you come to these historic monuments you realize the population problem in India , there are just way too many people everywhere you go.
From here we hitched a ride on an auto and started for Belur, the ride was through typical western ghats landscape, greenery everywhere, clouded skys and an orange setting sun for company :). We spent the evening at Belur temple, tried to take some pics without a tripod :(. And we were ready for Sakhilaspura. The last bus was around 8:30 PM, but we had a problem.WE were supposed to get 105 rotis for the trek. 3 meals will be roti based, carbohydrates required during trekking, rotis with picles, jams or rajma masala. We are expected to reach Sakhilaspura by 10:30 it will take at least 2 hrs. and shops wont be open to cater to the rotis. SO they had to be procured from Belur and we had 15 mins with us to do so. Myself and Ravi went for the rotis , we split up and managed to get 70 rotis from 2 restaurants, rushed back to the bus stand in time to catch the bus. Meanwhile LSP had procured 18 bread packets, 3 each from a local bakery and 12 dilpasand (some kind of snacks stuffed paratha shaped like pizza). We had more than enough now, the backpacks are going to be pretty heavy but we had enough food for any kind of emergency. WE finally reached Sakhilaspura around 11 PM.
Once there Ravi myself and Sridhar went scouting for a lodge for the night stay while others scouted for a hotel for dinner, We managed to get 5 beds in a lodge, anyways we had to catch the bus to Gundaya in 3 hrs time, so a short nap was all we were expecting to catch. After dinner everyone was given their food packets and we went to 'sleep'. Woke up around 2 AM in time to catch the bus to Gundaya check post. The drive was as bumpy as I had ever experienced , still managed to catch some sleep holding on to the seats. Reached Gundaya around 5 AM in the morning and slept by the road side, till daylight for the trek.
The drive to Hasan was pretty good, it was a national highway so the road conditions were good enough to maintain a good speed. Karnataka has a pretty good public bus transport station, very basic but very good, I am told thats it is the case with all the other southern states as well. Another interesting thing to note was there were lady bus conductors, which is just not possible in North. The passengers were all well behaved,decent, and the lady conductors looked quite confident, and later during the trip I found lady bus conductors for late night buses as well. It was so nice to see that.
I never buy the feminist crap, there should be reservations, there should be separate things ...separate queues... blah blah blah, what i think is required is a little respect , and confidence on the fairer sex, and they will rise to the occasion. They can walk shoulder to shoulder do what men do. They dont need any kid glove treatment, in fact no one needs, all that we should aim for is equal opportunity. That way we dont have to compromise on quality and we will have confident workforce. Being a bus conductor is a pretty demanding job, and they were doing it so comfortably.
On the way we exchanged what ever research each one has done so far. From the various blogs that we had read, it certainly looked like a difficult trek. There was a good chance of getting lost, and all the groups seemed to carry the survey of India maps. we didnt have those. There was also mention of elephants and bears, perfect challenge we thought, though the mention of vipers in some of the blogs made us a bit uneasy.
We finally reached Hasan around 2:30 PM, had lunch in Kadamba restaurant, that I am told is a govt run restaurants at bus stops. Again the food was basic and we were hungry anyway.The plan now was to travel to Halebidu and Belur temples and finally to Sakhilaspura, which is on the Banglore Mangalore highway. Early morning we are supposed to catch a bus to Gundaya check post and from there the trek will begin.
Halibidu was spectacular, much better preserved than other temples, we spent about an hour there and took lot of pics. As usual there were great number of peoples around. When you come to these historic monuments you realize the population problem in India , there are just way too many people everywhere you go.
From here we hitched a ride on an auto and started for Belur, the ride was through typical western ghats landscape, greenery everywhere, clouded skys and an orange setting sun for company :). We spent the evening at Belur temple, tried to take some pics without a tripod :(. And we were ready for Sakhilaspura. The last bus was around 8:30 PM, but we had a problem.WE were supposed to get 105 rotis for the trek. 3 meals will be roti based, carbohydrates required during trekking, rotis with picles, jams or rajma masala. We are expected to reach Sakhilaspura by 10:30 it will take at least 2 hrs. and shops wont be open to cater to the rotis. SO they had to be procured from Belur and we had 15 mins with us to do so. Myself and Ravi went for the rotis , we split up and managed to get 70 rotis from 2 restaurants, rushed back to the bus stand in time to catch the bus. Meanwhile LSP had procured 18 bread packets, 3 each from a local bakery and 12 dilpasand (some kind of snacks stuffed paratha shaped like pizza). We had more than enough now, the backpacks are going to be pretty heavy but we had enough food for any kind of emergency. WE finally reached Sakhilaspura around 11 PM.
Once there Ravi myself and Sridhar went scouting for a lodge for the night stay while others scouted for a hotel for dinner, We managed to get 5 beds in a lodge, anyways we had to catch the bus to Gundaya in 3 hrs time, so a short nap was all we were expecting to catch. After dinner everyone was given their food packets and we went to 'sleep'. Woke up around 2 AM in time to catch the bus to Gundaya check post. The drive was as bumpy as I had ever experienced , still managed to catch some sleep holding on to the seats. Reached Gundaya around 5 AM in the morning and slept by the road side, till daylight for the trek.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Belur Trek, planning and masti
This is a new experience, we are planning and executing everything. 9 guys all oracle colleges on a trek to western ghats.
And in a group when frequency matches, what fun. Everyone has been assigned certain tasks basically under 3 heads.
Food
Tent
Transport
There is also one more head called food preparation, which Mr Raghu has so gllefully taken, I will pull his leg all along, that I promise. Today we did almost all the shopping, 9 packs of Jam 1 for each one, 6 packs of Rajma masala, paper plates, Britannia fruit bread 27 packs, breakfast will be these fruit breads so 3 days 3 packs per head. Managed to get only 18 Ananth has got 4 more, we need 5 more. WE couldnt find frozen rotis, this is important cause our dinner is roti + something. WE could only get Frozen parathas. So rotis we will have to find tomm or we will have to carry bread.
Choclate bars we have already got. My concern or rather something I am eagrly waiting to see, how do we light a fire. Guys here say they have been able to manage the fire in wet conditions, fire wood would be locally procured from the forest !. This si going to be fun, I will be looking fwd to the evening camp fire. I have confidence , not saying that I dont believe them, but it will be fun, the struggle to light that fire. If we manage to get some music around that time
Imagine Morisson singing
Comeon baby light my fire
while Raghu would be struggling to light that fire.... :)
He is fully prepared though, he is carrying camphor, they 'allegedly' are a big help in lighting a fire, he is also going to carry some ghee, and best of all the fire wood we are planning locally procure from the forest, I have no clue on this part :)
Thats the spirit guys if anythign else.
The we have God and priest , Sridhar and LSP, it has been decided, that where we camp is the sole discretion of these two folks, no debates no arguments. These generals tell us to halt and we halt.
Ohh then we have the camp itself, we are carrying some plastic sheets and rope , how we will set it up, I am not even thinking. But one thing for sure, their spirit is infectious, I am just taking it all in. Imagine a heavy downpour, in the middle of night, 9 guys, in the middle of no where. somebody did mention something about snakes. I am not even thinking about it. Snkaes are shy creatures, they will stay away. Any ways my plan is to sleep in the midlle of all these peopl, I am not taking the corner slots in the camp.
If something will still crawl all the way to me , I guess thats destiny.
My personal shopping is done, I am carrying some Snickers bars and biscuits.
Drinking water will also be locally procured.
WE are also carrying 1 kg of salt , that was again Raghu's idea. His take is apart from cooking, everyone will be give some salt to fight the leeches. Pretty thoughtful I must say, and our take was, since we have the ammunation even if leechs are not going to bother us, we are going to seek them out and have some fun. So we are indeed carrying 1 kg of salt!
And in a group when frequency matches, what fun. Everyone has been assigned certain tasks basically under 3 heads.
Food
Tent
Transport
There is also one more head called food preparation, which Mr Raghu has so gllefully taken, I will pull his leg all along, that I promise. Today we did almost all the shopping, 9 packs of Jam 1 for each one, 6 packs of Rajma masala, paper plates, Britannia fruit bread 27 packs, breakfast will be these fruit breads so 3 days 3 packs per head. Managed to get only 18 Ananth has got 4 more, we need 5 more. WE couldnt find frozen rotis, this is important cause our dinner is roti + something. WE could only get Frozen parathas. So rotis we will have to find tomm or we will have to carry bread.
Choclate bars we have already got. My concern or rather something I am eagrly waiting to see, how do we light a fire. Guys here say they have been able to manage the fire in wet conditions, fire wood would be locally procured from the forest !. This si going to be fun, I will be looking fwd to the evening camp fire. I have confidence , not saying that I dont believe them, but it will be fun, the struggle to light that fire. If we manage to get some music around that time
Imagine Morisson singing
Comeon baby light my fire
while Raghu would be struggling to light that fire.... :)
He is fully prepared though, he is carrying camphor, they 'allegedly' are a big help in lighting a fire, he is also going to carry some ghee, and best of all the fire wood we are planning locally procure from the forest, I have no clue on this part :)
Thats the spirit guys if anythign else.
The we have God and priest , Sridhar and LSP, it has been decided, that where we camp is the sole discretion of these two folks, no debates no arguments. These generals tell us to halt and we halt.
Ohh then we have the camp itself, we are carrying some plastic sheets and rope , how we will set it up, I am not even thinking. But one thing for sure, their spirit is infectious, I am just taking it all in. Imagine a heavy downpour, in the middle of night, 9 guys, in the middle of no where. somebody did mention something about snakes. I am not even thinking about it. Snkaes are shy creatures, they will stay away. Any ways my plan is to sleep in the midlle of all these peopl, I am not taking the corner slots in the camp.
If something will still crawl all the way to me , I guess thats destiny.
My personal shopping is done, I am carrying some Snickers bars and biscuits.
Drinking water will also be locally procured.
WE are also carrying 1 kg of salt , that was again Raghu's idea. His take is apart from cooking, everyone will be give some salt to fight the leeches. Pretty thoughtful I must say, and our take was, since we have the ammunation even if leechs are not going to bother us, we are going to seek them out and have some fun. So we are indeed carrying 1 kg of salt!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Markha Valley Trek: Day 5
I woke up early, it was still a bit dark outside and cold.I was quite stiff from the five days trek but the will was as strong as ever and was very confident. Today we cross over KongmaruLa (La in Ladakhi lingo means pass). Unlike other days, the climb started straightway, there was no leisurely walk to warmup. It was a very steep climb, every breath was a struggle. It started to snow, and then turned to rain. But the challenge was the inspiration, the pace was slow but steady. After about 1 hr of climb, I reached the top of an intermediate pass, Nimaling was still 2 hrs away and then the actual pass, Kongmarula.
The views from there, are what dreams are made of. The Zanskar ra
nge stretched as far as eye could see, to my left was teh snowcapped peak of Kangyaze .It was so huge , I felt I could reach out and touch it. Here I waited for others to catch up, for there were two trails, didnt know which one to take, . It started to rain again, I just managed to take some snaps. and wrapped myself with all that I had for it was quite cold too. Soon I could make out the figure of our guide bringing up the rear end of the group, I waved to him and waved back to carry on to our right, byt his time Joslin and Derek had aslo joined and we started walking again.
Beyond this pass , the walk was relatively on flat terran. I knew I had to reach Nimaling and then there would be a climb, but as far as I could see there was no sign of life, Nimaling must be far. On the way came across many Himalayan Marmoot, these mongoose like species dig borrows into the ground and are very shy, there were so many of them. After about an hour Nimaling appeared, a white parachute tent at a distance and Kongmarula to my left looked challenging.
Was totally exhausted by the time I reached Nimaling, Nimaling is a small settlement of perhaps 2 families and is cold and miserable, there were two parachute tents selling tea , coffee and some cold drinks ofcourse at a very inflated price, has to be. It must be real hard work to haul all that to these heights. The views were awe inspiring a flat piece of grassland , to its left was Kangyaze and to its right was Kongmarula.
Our plan was to reach Nimaling by 11:OO AM and start the climb to Kongmarula by 11:30. I reached by 10:45 so had half an hour to catch my breath, and sip some hot mint tea. Soon everyone started streaming in, there was a group from Belgium, couples and one more couple from Swizerland. There was this guide from Israel who was doing this trek with his family. He was a bit worried that his family, his wife and daughter still havent reached Nimaling. His altimeter read 5300 mts above sea level, which was quite sobering.
We still have to cross Kongmarula, so Kongmarula pass must be atleast 5500mts give or take a few. It was a sobering thought, By this time I just wanted to get to the other side, to get over with this, my excitement was tinged with a bit of fear. I couldnt help think, if something happens here, what can any one do, everyone is at their limit.
When our guide finally reached Nimaling I immediately started of , it was a very steep climb, couldnt help but stop and just soak in all the views once in a while while catching my breath, It was truely amazing, cant put words to it What a pity, I could sit here forever. There were some serious climb ahead of me. After climbing for about 45 mins the terran flats out and from here you can clearly see Kangyaze.
Was surprised to find Derek and Joslin here, these guys have some strength, instead of taking the cnventional route, the climbed straight up. So they made it before me. There was a bit of healthy competition between all of us, it was such a challenge, everyone wanted to be there first. They were just sitting there, and we munched a cholcalte bar and chatted for a while and I joaked, "guys 5300mts is just a walk in the park". By this time Amit has also reached there, and after a brief halt we again started.
WE hadnt reached the foot of the peak when the sky started to open up. the peak Kangyaze of was totally covered with clouds. It was as if all these clouds which were drifting around suddenly decided to have a round table conference and wanted to show off , that this was their territory.
I would be lying if I would say I wasnt afraid, The clouds looked ominious and there was loud clasps of thunder. It began to snow and then slit and rain steadily. We had no option but to climb and cross over, we knew if we go back we cant make it back on that day, so we started climbing again. But I was really worried of t
he lightening.
Joslin and Derek made steady progress and I fell behind , I was keeping up to my old theory of slow and steady, and walk with a rythm. And in this thin air rhythm was very difficult to find. After a whle I saw Derek collapse, when I came near him I just asked him to keep moving, he said, he will catch his breath and continue. Later I would find out that it was the first signs of AMS. Up ahead of us Joslin was making good progress, and Amit was following us further down.
The last leg of the climb was the toughest, by this time all the muscles were sore , I was breathing very heavily every breath every step forward every moment seemed like eternity. It took me around 1 hr to reach the top , Was too tired to appreciate even the views.
But I felt so confident, thanked my body for holding up, I could feel a sense of detachment of my body and soul. This was the occasion where my soul was thanking the body to be by its side. Having climbed the Kongmarula I wanted to have my lunch there, thsi would be the highest point in my life so far, the most memorable lunch. was releived to see Derek join us there. Joslin had gone into a trance.
Derek took our advice and started the descent immediately, cause when youa re sturck by AMS the best recourse is to come down, you should spend as little time as possible at higher altitudes. And soon we followed. By the time we reached campsite we were too tired to even think of what happened.
This was basically the end of our trek, tomorrow we continue our descent and then drive to Leh.
The views from there, are what dreams are made of. The Zanskar ra
nge stretched as far as eye could see, to my left was teh snowcapped peak of Kangyaze .It was so huge , I felt I could reach out and touch it. Here I waited for others to catch up, for there were two trails, didnt know which one to take, . It started to rain again, I just managed to take some snaps. and wrapped myself with all that I had for it was quite cold too. Soon I could make out the figure of our guide bringing up the rear end of the group, I waved to him and waved back to carry on to our right, byt his time Joslin and Derek had aslo joined and we started walking again.
Beyond this pass , the walk was relatively on flat terran. I knew I had to reach Nimaling and then there would be a climb, but as far as I could see there was no sign of life, Nimaling must be far. On the way came across many Himalayan Marmoot, these mongoose like species dig borrows into the ground and are very shy, there were so many of them. After about an hour Nimaling appeared, a white parachute tent at a distance and Kongmarula to my left looked challenging.
Was totally exhausted by the time I reached Nimaling, Nimaling is a small settlement of perhaps 2 families and is cold and miserable, there were two parachute tents selling tea , coffee and some cold drinks ofcourse at a very inflated price, has to be. It must be real hard work to haul all that to these heights. The views were awe inspiring a flat piece of grassland , to its left was Kangyaze and to its right was Kongmarula.
Our plan was to reach Nimaling by 11:OO AM and start the climb to Kongmarula by 11:30. I reached by 10:45 so had half an hour to catch my breath, and sip some hot mint tea. Soon everyone started streaming in, there was a group from Belgium, couples and one more couple from Swizerland. There was this guide from Israel who was doing this trek with his family. He was a bit worried that his family, his wife and daughter still havent reached Nimaling. His altimeter read 5300 mts above sea level, which was quite sobering.
We still have to cross Kongmarula, so Kongmarula pass must be atleast 5500mts give or take a few. It was a sobering thought, By this time I just wanted to get to the other side, to get over with this, my excitement was tinged with a bit of fear. I couldnt help think, if something happens here, what can any one do, everyone is at their limit.
When our guide finally reached Nimaling I immediately started of , it was a very steep climb, couldnt help but stop and just soak in all the views once in a while while catching my breath, It was truely amazing, cant put words to it What a pity, I could sit here forever. There were some serious climb ahead of me. After climbing for about 45 mins the terran flats out and from here you can clearly see Kangyaze.
Was surprised to find Derek and Joslin here, these guys have some strength, instead of taking the cnventional route, the climbed straight up. So they made it before me. There was a bit of healthy competition between all of us, it was such a challenge, everyone wanted to be there first. They were just sitting there, and we munched a cholcalte bar and chatted for a while and I joaked, "guys 5300mts is just a walk in the park". By this time Amit has also reached there, and after a brief halt we again started.
WE hadnt reached the foot of the peak when the sky started to open up. the peak Kangyaze of was totally covered with clouds. It was as if all these clouds which were drifting around suddenly decided to have a round table conference and wanted to show off , that this was their territory.
I would be lying if I would say I wasnt afraid, The clouds looked ominious and there was loud clasps of thunder. It began to snow and then slit and rain steadily. We had no option but to climb and cross over, we knew if we go back we cant make it back on that day, so we started climbing again. But I was really worried of t
he lightening.Joslin and Derek made steady progress and I fell behind , I was keeping up to my old theory of slow and steady, and walk with a rythm. And in this thin air rhythm was very difficult to find. After a whle I saw Derek collapse, when I came near him I just asked him to keep moving, he said, he will catch his breath and continue. Later I would find out that it was the first signs of AMS. Up ahead of us Joslin was making good progress, and Amit was following us further down.
The last leg of the climb was the toughest, by this time all the muscles were sore , I was breathing very heavily every breath every step forward every moment seemed like eternity. It took me around 1 hr to reach the top , Was too tired to appreciate even the views.
But I felt so confident, thanked my body for holding up, I could feel a sense of detachment of my body and soul. This was the occasion where my soul was thanking the body to be by its side. Having climbed the Kongmarula I wanted to have my lunch there, thsi would be the highest point in my life so far, the most memorable lunch. was releived to see Derek join us there. Joslin had gone into a trance.
Derek took our advice and started the descent immediately, cause when youa re sturck by AMS the best recourse is to come down, you should spend as little time as possible at higher altitudes. And soon we followed. By the time we reached campsite we were too tired to even think of what happened.
This was basically the end of our trek, tomorrow we continue our descent and then drive to Leh.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Ganji, Neeru , Illa Day 3 Hampi
Got up again at 4 AM, its so difficult. When I go back, I will sleep, put some light instrumentals and sleep, just sleep. Soon the excitement got into me, it was still dark outside , took the bike and on the road. Driving on an empty road in dusk is something to experience. Its there every day while I am asleep. There are many things like this which we just miss, while they are right withen our reach. And we complain about a monotonous life. When I get my cycle, I will try to experience this more often.
After about 20 mins we reached Hospet, most of the ATMs were not working, some without cash, so we pushed along, decided to have breakfast in Kostagi. Soon we caught the highways and the drive was as pleasant as it could be. We were quite fortunate to have very nice weather all through the journey, it was the in between kind of weather, not raining, overcast, not humid either, just perfect for a drive. Soon it was just the roads and the trucks , empty fields all around and we were maintaining a constant 70.
Reached Kostagi around 7 AM, after inquiring around a bit, Krishna restaurant seemed to be the place. For the last two days we didn't have a proper breakfast, so feasted on the Vada and Dosa and coffee. From Kostagi Badami took about 2 hrs, we didnt take the highway, so asked around a bit and finally we were there. On the way visited the Banshankri temple, offered prayers, these days I am getting a bit religious, felt good about it, confident about the journey ahead and off we went to visit the Badami Caves. The sculptures here are awesome, unlike Hampi where the sculptures lacked any emotions, here you can sense some personality on the sculptures, they had expressions.
The first breakdown, Sumeet's bike had a clutch problem, good that it happened near Badami, managed to fix that, took about half an hour though. We were running a little late by now, the initial plan was to start for Hampi by 2 PM max. It was about 12 PM now and we had two more places to cover. When you plan a trip like this, especially with bikes and all, you should always leave some legroom, cause breakdowns will and often happen. We were on our way to "Patta ******", on the way the bike didn't felt right, it was wobbling after some time it was apparent that I had a flat tire, I honked for the other guys to stop but they were a bit ahead, anyways they came back after some time, when they didn't find me following. Fortunately we were about 2 kms from "Patta*****", another 45 mins,the puncture got repaired and we were at that difficult to pronounce place. It was already 1PM, we gave ourselves 1 hr to explore this site have lunch and then return for Hampi.
This place was the site where the Chalaukiyans had experimented with different temple formats, The best of the lot was the Virupaksha temple, the carvings on this temple were the best so far. After spending about an hour had the jowar roti lunch, which was really good, besides we were hungry like anything. We finally decided we are going to visit Aihole and then return, the logic was, if we miss it now, we wont again come here for Aihole itself, so we will miss it forever. We planned to start for Hampi by 3:45 at any cost.
Aihole was a disappointment really, or maybe we were in so much hurry, just visited the Durga temple and frankly was a bit tired too. Sumeet in the mean time was following a cute looking girl who was traveling with her mom and dad. This fellow in between visits to the temple, managed to find out her name, She is from bellary, her father works in a hydel project there, exchanged telephone numbers almost managed to get an invite for diner with them.
3:45 and time to start for Hampi, for once our timing was right , after we caught the highway maintained constant 70 the 100 cc bike was really pushed to the limit, I have a Pulsar 150 and you really feel the 50 cc gap, wonder how a 220 cc bike would feel. The road was pretty good, except for the occasional potholes, which were quite big. When you are maintaining 70+ riding on a bike over a pothole is a bit risky, especially while nurturing a fracture injury. Sometimes you just don't have any options, trucks will not give way and push you off the road.
Anyways pushed along reached Kostagi around 5:30, had snacks again at Krishna restaurant. It started raining a bit, didn't look good at all , we still had around 60 odd kms for Hospet, thankfully the rain subsided. Through the whole trip I didn't have a helmet, I know its a stupid thing, but no other option really. Insisted on a helmet from the bike vendor, he got an helmet all right, which someone had mistakenly tried to clean with Kerosene. So it gave that constant stench , had to leave it back in Hampi. So without visors I had to put on my goggles and it was getting dark. Have to have to get a pair of driving glasses when I get back to Hyderabad. There were some hiccups, especially when it became quite dark and I had to take off the goggles. But we reached Hospet safely and from there Ravi drove to Hampi.
We had missed the evening return bus to Hospet, so got an auto to Hospet bus stand. Had dinner after a long wait for the bus, got in, and the best sleep so for in a bus.
After about 20 mins we reached Hospet, most of the ATMs were not working, some without cash, so we pushed along, decided to have breakfast in Kostagi. Soon we caught the highways and the drive was as pleasant as it could be. We were quite fortunate to have very nice weather all through the journey, it was the in between kind of weather, not raining, overcast, not humid either, just perfect for a drive. Soon it was just the roads and the trucks , empty fields all around and we were maintaining a constant 70.
Reached Kostagi around 7 AM, after inquiring around a bit, Krishna restaurant seemed to be the place. For the last two days we didn't have a proper breakfast, so feasted on the Vada and Dosa and coffee. From Kostagi Badami took about 2 hrs, we didnt take the highway, so asked around a bit and finally we were there. On the way visited the Banshankri temple, offered prayers, these days I am getting a bit religious, felt good about it, confident about the journey ahead and off we went to visit the Badami Caves. The sculptures here are awesome, unlike Hampi where the sculptures lacked any emotions, here you can sense some personality on the sculptures, they had expressions.
The first breakdown, Sumeet's bike had a clutch problem, good that it happened near Badami, managed to fix that, took about half an hour though. We were running a little late by now, the initial plan was to start for Hampi by 2 PM max. It was about 12 PM now and we had two more places to cover. When you plan a trip like this, especially with bikes and all, you should always leave some legroom, cause breakdowns will and often happen. We were on our way to "Patta ******", on the way the bike didn't felt right, it was wobbling after some time it was apparent that I had a flat tire, I honked for the other guys to stop but they were a bit ahead, anyways they came back after some time, when they didn't find me following. Fortunately we were about 2 kms from "Patta*****", another 45 mins,the puncture got repaired and we were at that difficult to pronounce place. It was already 1PM, we gave ourselves 1 hr to explore this site have lunch and then return for Hampi.
This place was the site where the Chalaukiyans had experimented with different temple formats, The best of the lot was the Virupaksha temple, the carvings on this temple were the best so far. After spending about an hour had the jowar roti lunch, which was really good, besides we were hungry like anything. We finally decided we are going to visit Aihole and then return, the logic was, if we miss it now, we wont again come here for Aihole itself, so we will miss it forever. We planned to start for Hampi by 3:45 at any cost.
Aihole was a disappointment really, or maybe we were in so much hurry, just visited the Durga temple and frankly was a bit tired too. Sumeet in the mean time was following a cute looking girl who was traveling with her mom and dad. This fellow in between visits to the temple, managed to find out her name, She is from bellary, her father works in a hydel project there, exchanged telephone numbers almost managed to get an invite for diner with them.
3:45 and time to start for Hampi, for once our timing was right , after we caught the highway maintained constant 70 the 100 cc bike was really pushed to the limit, I have a Pulsar 150 and you really feel the 50 cc gap, wonder how a 220 cc bike would feel. The road was pretty good, except for the occasional potholes, which were quite big. When you are maintaining 70+ riding on a bike over a pothole is a bit risky, especially while nurturing a fracture injury. Sometimes you just don't have any options, trucks will not give way and push you off the road.
Anyways pushed along reached Kostagi around 5:30, had snacks again at Krishna restaurant. It started raining a bit, didn't look good at all , we still had around 60 odd kms for Hospet, thankfully the rain subsided. Through the whole trip I didn't have a helmet, I know its a stupid thing, but no other option really. Insisted on a helmet from the bike vendor, he got an helmet all right, which someone had mistakenly tried to clean with Kerosene. So it gave that constant stench , had to leave it back in Hampi. So without visors I had to put on my goggles and it was getting dark. Have to have to get a pair of driving glasses when I get back to Hyderabad. There were some hiccups, especially when it became quite dark and I had to take off the goggles. But we reached Hospet safely and from there Ravi drove to Hampi.
We had missed the evening return bus to Hospet, so got an auto to Hospet bus stand. Had dinner after a long wait for the bus, got in, and the best sleep so for in a bus.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Hampi:Day 2, Aug 16th
Dragged myself out of the bed at 4 AM, Its so very difficult no matter how much of enthu you might have.Anyways we started towards Matunga hill.The idea was to get on top of that hill to catch the sun rise. After a short walk from the Hampi bazaar we were on the base of the Matunga hill, its a short hill but strategically located to get a commanding view of Hampi. There is a short flight of stairs infested with monkeys, was scared a bit cause of the camera pouch, it could easily be mistaken for some food. We were carrying some biscuits and the mokeys knew it instantly, they wont leave us without that, after a little struggle where we tried to be too smart, we left the biscuits with them and they didnt bother us after that.From the top of Matunga hill you can see the Hampi town the royal center and the sacred center, and the Tungabhadra river flowing alongside. But the sun rise was not to be experienced, cause of the cloud cover.
I was so tired at that point and there was such a nice cool breeze almost dozed off there. Then we started descending through the other face, the next target was Vithala temple. On the way there one can see the remains what possibly looked like an early irrigation system. On the way to the Vitalla temple sat by the bank of the river, near a place where there is a natural constriction, the river changes its course over there and makes a great deal of rumbling sound, possibly grumbling over the obstruction :).
Vitalla temple didn't disappoint, When you enter the temple the chariot is the first thing that you notice and you can stand there gaping at it for hours.I was not in a very good mood today, sad at wondering what this place might have looked like had it not been pillaged. And then there were all these tourist posing around, on a serious note we really have a population problem, there are way too many around and not many have the sense to be a little discreet, they will be so noisy and conspicuous.
By this time was quite hungry so started the walk back to Hampi, after searching around quite a bit, (Hampi really needs a decent restaurant) went to this hotel where it took ages to get our order. Filled myself with all kinds of stuff, went back to the guest house and slept instantly.
In the evening we visited the Virupaksha temple, you just cant miss the spirituality around these places, sat there for quite some time, just sat there, no thoughts nothing. Be aware of your being, and wondering whats the point in all these.Am I really just a bunch of chemicals? With these thoughts running around visited a bookshop, wanted to read the Vedas since I was a kid, its kind of strange, you scour the world , soak in all the stuff yet miss something closer home. It has to start somewhere so here I am. I am seriously planning to get into them, the world doesn't make sense to me at all.
Tomorrow we start on the bike trip to Badami, so got the bikes that night itself, had dinner an awful one and tomorrow I have to get up at 4 AM again !
Note to myself: Not to carry soaps in future trips, a shower gel is all you need and less of a hassle, and multi purpose. Also need to get a backpack where I can carry a water bottle.
I was so tired at that point and there was such a nice cool breeze almost dozed off there. Then we started descending through the other face, the next target was Vithala temple. On the way there one can see the remains what possibly looked like an early irrigation system. On the way to the Vitalla temple sat by the bank of the river, near a place where there is a natural constriction, the river changes its course over there and makes a great deal of rumbling sound, possibly grumbling over the obstruction :).
Vitalla temple didn't disappoint, When you enter the temple the chariot is the first thing that you notice and you can stand there gaping at it for hours.I was not in a very good mood today, sad at wondering what this place might have looked like had it not been pillaged. And then there were all these tourist posing around, on a serious note we really have a population problem, there are way too many around and not many have the sense to be a little discreet, they will be so noisy and conspicuous.
By this time was quite hungry so started the walk back to Hampi, after searching around quite a bit, (Hampi really needs a decent restaurant) went to this hotel where it took ages to get our order. Filled myself with all kinds of stuff, went back to the guest house and slept instantly.
In the evening we visited the Virupaksha temple, you just cant miss the spirituality around these places, sat there for quite some time, just sat there, no thoughts nothing. Be aware of your being, and wondering whats the point in all these.Am I really just a bunch of chemicals? With these thoughts running around visited a bookshop, wanted to read the Vedas since I was a kid, its kind of strange, you scour the world , soak in all the stuff yet miss something closer home. It has to start somewhere so here I am. I am seriously planning to get into them, the world doesn't make sense to me at all.
Tomorrow we start on the bike trip to Badami, so got the bikes that night itself, had dinner an awful one and tomorrow I have to get up at 4 AM again !
Note to myself: Not to carry soaps in future trips, a shower gel is all you need and less of a hassle, and multi purpose. Also need to get a backpack where I can carry a water bottle.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Hampi Weekend Day 1
It was a long weekend following the Independence day, the 61st. Long weekends have begun to frighten me a bit. What to do, I am quite restless by nature and spare time is something in which something needs to be done. As luck would have it happened to meet two freakos Ravi and Sumeet, these guys were planning to visit Hampi, and I just wanted to escape from the city so hopped in, they were gracious enough to accept me at such a short notice.
The frequency couldn't have matched better, right from the first meeting in Cyber Gateway I had a positive feeling, I knew for sure it would be perfect to travel with these people. No baggages, very open, excitable, confident I was really looking forward to this trip. After Mumbai and EMp75 403 flat this is the first time where I was on the same page as to what fun means.
So on 14th evening left early from office and took the bus to Hospet. Hospet is abt 9 hrs from Hyderabad and roads are in pretty good shape. Couldn't sleep in the bus, never been able to, but new place so no fatigue. From Hospet Hampi is an half hour drive and buses are frequent from the hospet bus stand. You travel for 9 hours and its a totally different place, India is so diverse, cant escape it. On the bus there were these group of kids coming back from Independence day celebrations from school and they were very chatty, you cant make out anything Kannada is very different from North Indian languages, its a bit intimidating I must say. Unusually, the kids were not shy at all, Ravi who is from Karnataka asked all sorts of questions and the kids did all the talking. All the girl kids had ribbons in their hair and apparently it looked like part of the uniform, they explained the color also is important, class 10th you get to wear red ribbons , 9th white ones and 8th green.
Reached Hampi, checked into a guest house, Rs 500 for a room seemed okey, the rooms were quite small though but attached bath was clean. Sumeet had got all the maps and the plan was to have some food first , then check out the ruins. Hampi has basically two areas of interest, the Royal Center and the Sacred Center. Day 1 we decided to explore the Royal center. Food is an issue here, but hungry we were, so managed. Then we rented out bicycles, rupees 40 per cycle per day.
Was riding a bicycle after a long time probably something like 4-5 years. And off we went the first place was Sri Krishna temple and then the Royal center, the ruins are spread over quite a large area, they are connected by a dirt road which makes it perfect to explore on a bicycle.
After seeing the structures you do get an sense of loss, what could have been so spectacular is now in ruins cause someone ransacked it. It was really sad to see some fine statues defaced, limbs missing, how could someone do that ? Humans are really a despicable lot they will go to any extent do anything and yet they will be the ones to preach morality, culture and what not. We are always so self centered so is our view of the world.
Was quite tired after the whole day, went for a walk along Tungabhadra, the river was quite swollen due to the rains and it was overcast so no moonlight riverside chilling out :(. Tomorrow morning had to get up early about 4 Am to catch the sunrise.
The frequency couldn't have matched better, right from the first meeting in Cyber Gateway I had a positive feeling, I knew for sure it would be perfect to travel with these people. No baggages, very open, excitable, confident I was really looking forward to this trip. After Mumbai and EMp75 403 flat this is the first time where I was on the same page as to what fun means.
So on 14th evening left early from office and took the bus to Hospet. Hospet is abt 9 hrs from Hyderabad and roads are in pretty good shape. Couldn't sleep in the bus, never been able to, but new place so no fatigue. From Hospet Hampi is an half hour drive and buses are frequent from the hospet bus stand. You travel for 9 hours and its a totally different place, India is so diverse, cant escape it. On the bus there were these group of kids coming back from Independence day celebrations from school and they were very chatty, you cant make out anything Kannada is very different from North Indian languages, its a bit intimidating I must say. Unusually, the kids were not shy at all, Ravi who is from Karnataka asked all sorts of questions and the kids did all the talking. All the girl kids had ribbons in their hair and apparently it looked like part of the uniform, they explained the color also is important, class 10th you get to wear red ribbons , 9th white ones and 8th green.
Reached Hampi, checked into a guest house, Rs 500 for a room seemed okey, the rooms were quite small though but attached bath was clean. Sumeet had got all the maps and the plan was to have some food first , then check out the ruins. Hampi has basically two areas of interest, the Royal Center and the Sacred Center. Day 1 we decided to explore the Royal center. Food is an issue here, but hungry we were, so managed. Then we rented out bicycles, rupees 40 per cycle per day.
Was riding a bicycle after a long time probably something like 4-5 years. And off we went the first place was Sri Krishna temple and then the Royal center, the ruins are spread over quite a large area, they are connected by a dirt road which makes it perfect to explore on a bicycle.
After seeing the structures you do get an sense of loss, what could have been so spectacular is now in ruins cause someone ransacked it. It was really sad to see some fine statues defaced, limbs missing, how could someone do that ? Humans are really a despicable lot they will go to any extent do anything and yet they will be the ones to preach morality, culture and what not. We are always so self centered so is our view of the world.
Was quite tired after the whole day, went for a walk along Tungabhadra, the river was quite swollen due to the rains and it was overcast so no moonlight riverside chilling out :(. Tomorrow morning had to get up early about 4 Am to catch the sunrise.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Episode 4:Into the death Zone
Camp 3 to Camp 4, 7900 meters, March 13 2006.
Mognes who is trying Everest without bottled oxygen is a mountaineering purist, he thinks the only way to measure yourself with nature is to use the body that he was born with. In the death zone, the extreme altitude shuts down digestion and the body consumes its own muscle tissue for energy.No one has ever survived the death zone for more than five days. thats where these guys are headed today.
Mognes after he reached the death zone, felt all the classical symptoms of the 'cerebral thing',he started mumbling, feeling light in his head . he had to turn back to Camp 3. He is in the early phase of Acute Mountain sickness, his lips have turned blue. He was doing so well till this moment. " Its not about this mate, its not abt this, You have got the heart of a fucking ox, You look after yourself in there mate, dont beat yourself up". Bottled Oxygen at this altitude will alleviate the symptoms but a full recovery requires two days at lower altitude. After chasing his dream for two years he has to leave it all back for now, for some other day.
They go past exit cracks then the mushroom rock, near the mushroom rock they change the oxygen canisters. First step and then Second step at -40 C.From second step its another 2 hour climb to the summit.Sometimes there is a waiting line for the summit, the window of good weather is what everyone waits for. So rush hour traffic when weather clears.Just imagine standing in a queue at 8300mts.
Terry and Bill are finally on the top, top of the world.Conquering Everest doesnt stop after a photo on the summit, 80% of all accidents occur while coming down.They started the climb at about 1 AM in the morning and now they have started their descent around 11AM in the morning. After being at the summit your adrenalin level goes down a bit and of course tiredness sets in. While coming down Terry has very cold finger tips and his career as a doctor depends on his hands.
Just facts cold,clean facts you cant stop thinking, and admire the capacity of the human spirit.
Mognes who is trying Everest without bottled oxygen is a mountaineering purist, he thinks the only way to measure yourself with nature is to use the body that he was born with. In the death zone, the extreme altitude shuts down digestion and the body consumes its own muscle tissue for energy.No one has ever survived the death zone for more than five days. thats where these guys are headed today.
Mognes after he reached the death zone, felt all the classical symptoms of the 'cerebral thing',he started mumbling, feeling light in his head . he had to turn back to Camp 3. He is in the early phase of Acute Mountain sickness, his lips have turned blue. He was doing so well till this moment. " Its not about this mate, its not abt this, You have got the heart of a fucking ox, You look after yourself in there mate, dont beat yourself up". Bottled Oxygen at this altitude will alleviate the symptoms but a full recovery requires two days at lower altitude. After chasing his dream for two years he has to leave it all back for now, for some other day.
They go past exit cracks then the mushroom rock, near the mushroom rock they change the oxygen canisters. First step and then Second step at -40 C.From second step its another 2 hour climb to the summit.Sometimes there is a waiting line for the summit, the window of good weather is what everyone waits for. So rush hour traffic when weather clears.Just imagine standing in a queue at 8300mts.
Terry and Bill are finally on the top, top of the world.Conquering Everest doesnt stop after a photo on the summit, 80% of all accidents occur while coming down.They started the climb at about 1 AM in the morning and now they have started their descent around 11AM in the morning. After being at the summit your adrenalin level goes down a bit and of course tiredness sets in. While coming down Terry has very cold finger tips and his career as a doctor depends on his hands.
Just facts cold,clean facts you cant stop thinking, and admire the capacity of the human spirit.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Its simple really, put one foot in front of another :)
Russel Brice the expedition Leader briefing before the summit attempt:
"71 days for a 10 day climb, its pretty crazy a stupid game.Remember the mountain will stay here, we are mere mortals. The sherpas have life too, they have families and its not their job to die alongside you because of your ambitions. If I see, that thats gonna happen I am gonna call the sherpas away, will deal with that in the court later and you will die.Its not their job to die for you.Lets give it our best shot and lets be safe, Good Luck."
Lot of fitness that people bring is Mental Fitness. just get used to sufferring.
From North Col 23000 ft its a 4 day climb to the summit.Camp 2 the next pit stop is at 24500 ft. Solar radiation is brutal in thin air, climbers who breathe with their jaws open can sunburn the roof of their mouths. People who have lost their lives on Everest are still out there somewhere on the mountain. Its just too difficult to recover the bodies. I don't think they would complain, they died chasing their dreams and Everest as the final resting place is kind of romantic.
Whiteout : When unbroken snow falls from an overcast sky,unto snow covered ground its called the whiteout. On this night a Checz climber died after a fall on the south side. So far 4 sherpas and one climber since the start of the climbing season.
Mark Ingles (the double amputee) : "I am not equal to the other climbers but I just need to be equal to the mountain".
How can you turn back, its your dream, how can you turn back on your dream ? The price may be your life but you cant turn back, I don't think I can. But as Bret put it philosophically he reached the top of his mountain , its not Everest but he pushed himself to the limit and he is secure with it, fair enough I would say.
When You hear the statements above that singular dialogue from the movie Matrix rings in your head. You ask yourself which one is true, should I believe or shall I loose faith. Its a choice or is it ?
"71 days for a 10 day climb, its pretty crazy a stupid game.Remember the mountain will stay here, we are mere mortals. The sherpas have life too, they have families and its not their job to die alongside you because of your ambitions. If I see, that thats gonna happen I am gonna call the sherpas away, will deal with that in the court later and you will die.Its not their job to die for you.Lets give it our best shot and lets be safe, Good Luck."
Lot of fitness that people bring is Mental Fitness. just get used to sufferring.
From North Col 23000 ft its a 4 day climb to the summit.Camp 2 the next pit stop is at 24500 ft. Solar radiation is brutal in thin air, climbers who breathe with their jaws open can sunburn the roof of their mouths. People who have lost their lives on Everest are still out there somewhere on the mountain. Its just too difficult to recover the bodies. I don't think they would complain, they died chasing their dreams and Everest as the final resting place is kind of romantic.
Whiteout : When unbroken snow falls from an overcast sky,unto snow covered ground its called the whiteout. On this night a Checz climber died after a fall on the south side. So far 4 sherpas and one climber since the start of the climbing season.
Mark Ingles (the double amputee) : "I am not equal to the other climbers but I just need to be equal to the mountain".
How can you turn back, its your dream, how can you turn back on your dream ? The price may be your life but you cant turn back, I don't think I can. But as Bret put it philosophically he reached the top of his mountain , its not Everest but he pushed himself to the limit and he is secure with it, fair enough I would say.
When You hear the statements above that singular dialogue from the movie Matrix rings in your head. You ask yourself which one is true, should I believe or shall I loose faith. Its a choice or is it ?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Everest Beyond the limit: Episode 2
Episode 2:Standing on the shoulders of the giants
people claim Everest, But Its the sherpas who are the first up there , they go in, lay the safety ropes to the summit, yet we never hear about them.One argument that comes instantly is what about intent?, its cause of these expeditions that the sherpas summit it, without expeditions these sherpas wont be going up Everest. I mean Everest was there, Sherpas were there. Yet it took an English survey to discover Everest to be the highest. It took a NewZealander to be on top and before him numerous other summit attempts. The sherpas never thought along those lines, they were happy praying to their Everest God, the Sagarmatha. The Sherpas look forward to the expeditions every season as a plump job.Its the Discovery Channel which produced "Everest Beyond the Limit", which told the story and to their credit acknowledged the job of the Sherpas. But its their story, there is bound to be bias.If you don't like it tell your story...
Truth can be quite inconvenient when dissected to its bare essentials, thats the way life is in many ways. The devil lies in the details and ignorance quite often is bliss.But then lets not be so cynical.These are teh characters who are going up.
Mogenes Jensen, is from Denmark a country with no mountains, his Everest training consisted of trekking 10 miles a day with 150 pounds of water as weight. He has chronic asthma and plans to do the summit without bottled oxygen. Wants to send out a message to other people sufferring from asthma that "even the summit of Everest is not out of reach, even without bottled oxygen"
George Borat: A 62 year Frenchman, had one of his cancerous kidney removed through his guts rather than his back to allow him to carry mountain gear and that was just 2 months back.
Mark Inglis: had both his legs amputated in an earlier summit attempt in New-Zealand and is now attempting Everest on carbon fibre legs.He is carrying a spare 'leg' cause one of his 'legs' broke during acclimatization climbs.
Tim Medvetez:had a near fatal bike accident. Now metal screws hold his structure together, He is 6 foot five and its a real pain to haul up that massive structure.He says "The doctors telling you that you cant do this cant do that, but thats what motivates me , someone says you cant do something".Well for me this is the essence of life, the spirit.
The summit attempt is now a go in 12 hours.Each step is an eternity, each breath a battle.
"Standing on the shoulders of the giants", the expedition members stand on the sherpas and I stand on top of the expedition members. You guys give me a lot of strength.
people claim Everest, But Its the sherpas who are the first up there , they go in, lay the safety ropes to the summit, yet we never hear about them.One argument that comes instantly is what about intent?, its cause of these expeditions that the sherpas summit it, without expeditions these sherpas wont be going up Everest. I mean Everest was there, Sherpas were there. Yet it took an English survey to discover Everest to be the highest. It took a NewZealander to be on top and before him numerous other summit attempts. The sherpas never thought along those lines, they were happy praying to their Everest God, the Sagarmatha. The Sherpas look forward to the expeditions every season as a plump job.Its the Discovery Channel which produced "Everest Beyond the Limit", which told the story and to their credit acknowledged the job of the Sherpas. But its their story, there is bound to be bias.If you don't like it tell your story...
Truth can be quite inconvenient when dissected to its bare essentials, thats the way life is in many ways. The devil lies in the details and ignorance quite often is bliss.But then lets not be so cynical.These are teh characters who are going up.
Mogenes Jensen, is from Denmark a country with no mountains, his Everest training consisted of trekking 10 miles a day with 150 pounds of water as weight. He has chronic asthma and plans to do the summit without bottled oxygen. Wants to send out a message to other people sufferring from asthma that "even the summit of Everest is not out of reach, even without bottled oxygen"
George Borat: A 62 year Frenchman, had one of his cancerous kidney removed through his guts rather than his back to allow him to carry mountain gear and that was just 2 months back.
Mark Inglis: had both his legs amputated in an earlier summit attempt in New-Zealand and is now attempting Everest on carbon fibre legs.He is carrying a spare 'leg' cause one of his 'legs' broke during acclimatization climbs.
Tim Medvetez:had a near fatal bike accident. Now metal screws hold his structure together, He is 6 foot five and its a real pain to haul up that massive structure.He says "The doctors telling you that you cant do this cant do that, but thats what motivates me , someone says you cant do something".Well for me this is the essence of life, the spirit.
The summit attempt is now a go in 12 hours.Each step is an eternity, each breath a battle.
"Standing on the shoulders of the giants", the expedition members stand on the sherpas and I stand on top of the expedition members. You guys give me a lot of strength.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Uncharitable
How often have we abused US, our media especially. When you talk to people, educated people, its very rare to find someone who doesn't have anything negative to say. Its a crime after all to be the sole leading power, when the rest of the world is struggling to catch up. I was shocked the other day to find that the state of California consumes more petroleum than whole of India. A degree of resentment was inevitable.
But this way of life, this blogging for example, this keyboard under my fingers , the screen where I am editing, the software that I am using, is all US. The world has never thanked US for this, hey I paid for that computer its mine now. I feel we fail to appreciate, the society that shaped it. I have a daily list of articles , blogs that I visit, now a days they are filled with US presidential campaign stories, which I don't find interesting. But it made me realize how dependent we are, how uncharitable we are.
But this way of life, this blogging for example, this keyboard under my fingers , the screen where I am editing, the software that I am using, is all US. The world has never thanked US for this, hey I paid for that computer its mine now. I feel we fail to appreciate, the society that shaped it. I have a daily list of articles , blogs that I visit, now a days they are filled with US presidential campaign stories, which I don't find interesting. But it made me realize how dependent we are, how uncharitable we are.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
July 5th Delhi and Manali
Landed in Delhi abt 3 PM, no cash no ATMs near the airport, or we didnt find them. Delhi was hot very hot.Took a cab to Chanderlok building. We were pretty tired in the afternoon sun to look for a restaurant. Went to The Imperial , was expensive Rs 2900 for a lunch for two. But we are on vacation well thats all right once in a while.
Manali bus was to depart around 6 PM. Enquired with a travel agency which had its office in that building to be sure we are at the right place, they said to wait in FRONT of the building, while the bus was to arrive at the BACK of the building. After sometime was around 6:10 PM, thanks to a vendor, came to know that the bus waits at the back of the building. Scamperd back with that packed backpack, didnt miss the bus, it was IST timings ofcourse :).
Delhi appeared to be a very well planned city, its THE CAPITAL of course. Took abt 2 hrs to reach to reach the outskirts and soon we were doing > 100kph. The road was good and the traffic disciplined, not that the volvo guys care much abt traffic.Reached Chandigarh abt 2AM abd finally first signs of the Himalayas abt 5:30 AM.
The Himalays didnt disappoint, One glance and you know that these are the highest out there,imposingly standing, after all these have defined the culture, religion and history of India over many centuries.
After stopping for tea and refreshments , with Manali still 131 kms, the road entered the Beas valley. It looked splendid in the morning sun.
Finally reached Manali around 10AM, checked into the hotel. They had some problem with the reservations, got the rooms after a bit of delay.Its a decent hotel "Hotel Snow Park" conveniently located near the Mall. Hot water was there, an absolute essential in these parts,bathrooms were clean. Rooms were a bit small, thats okey for a night.
The hotel guy arranged a cab for local sighting and showed a travel agent who could arrange travel to Leh.Again needed cash, there are 2 SBI ATMS , one didnt have cash, the other one had a long queue, took a long time. The sun felt hot, piercingly hot, even though the atmosphere is generally cool, the sun hits you. It was expected we are around 1000m above msl.
Manali bus was to depart around 6 PM. Enquired with a travel agency which had its office in that building to be sure we are at the right place, they said to wait in FRONT of the building, while the bus was to arrive at the BACK of the building. After sometime was around 6:10 PM, thanks to a vendor, came to know that the bus waits at the back of the building. Scamperd back with that packed backpack, didnt miss the bus, it was IST timings ofcourse :).
Delhi appeared to be a very well planned city, its THE CAPITAL of course. Took abt 2 hrs to reach to reach the outskirts and soon we were doing > 100kph. The road was good and the traffic disciplined, not that the volvo guys care much abt traffic.Reached Chandigarh abt 2AM abd finally first signs of the Himalayas abt 5:30 AM.
The Himalays didnt disappoint, One glance and you know that these are the highest out there,imposingly standing, after all these have defined the culture, religion and history of India over many centuries.
After stopping for tea and refreshments , with Manali still 131 kms, the road entered the Beas valley. It looked splendid in the morning sun.
Finally reached Manali around 10AM, checked into the hotel. They had some problem with the reservations, got the rooms after a bit of delay.Its a decent hotel "Hotel Snow Park" conveniently located near the Mall. Hot water was there, an absolute essential in these parts,bathrooms were clean. Rooms were a bit small, thats okey for a night.
The hotel guy arranged a cab for local sighting and showed a travel agent who could arrange travel to Leh.Again needed cash, there are 2 SBI ATMS , one didnt have cash, the other one had a long queue, took a long time. The sun felt hot, piercingly hot, even though the atmosphere is generally cool, the sun hits you. It was expected we are around 1000m above msl.
July 4th On the flight to Delhi
Well more or less I am off. It didnt start off well though. I was pretty bitter from office. Having ambitions, trying to be in control is good, but for that things have to be planned.You cannot just drum in at the last minute and expect magic.I have very high hopes on fusion but the way the show is being managed makes me wonder if we will pull it through.
Other aspects of the trip are kicking in slowly, beginning to feel the solitude, my music, my thoughts , books and mother nature. The view from the flight never is boring!. Walk in the woods is quite promising, funny, light and cheerful. One line that sticks out is "Man I have shit out there". Its so manly, sniff the air around ! and proclaim your territory, well something like that!.
Delhi is going to be abit tricky. We are expected to land at 3 PM and then we have to reach Chanderlok building. NO idea where that is, how long its gonna take. We have to be there by 6 PM to catch the bus to Manali, withdraw cash, have some lunch and chatter more abt flows :(.
Sing us a song ohh piano man
Sing us a song tonight
We are all in the mood for melody
You got us feeling alright
Billy Joel is good :)
Other aspects of the trip are kicking in slowly, beginning to feel the solitude, my music, my thoughts , books and mother nature. The view from the flight never is boring!. Walk in the woods is quite promising, funny, light and cheerful. One line that sticks out is "Man I have shit out there". Its so manly, sniff the air around ! and proclaim your territory, well something like that!.
Delhi is going to be abit tricky. We are expected to land at 3 PM and then we have to reach Chanderlok building. NO idea where that is, how long its gonna take. We have to be there by 6 PM to catch the bus to Manali, withdraw cash, have some lunch and chatter more abt flows :(.
Sing us a song ohh piano man
Sing us a song tonight
We are all in the mood for melody
You got us feeling alright
Billy Joel is good :)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Stoking the fire on a dull morning
I am not sure when I am going to start logging the detailed itenary. Some memories do stand out, from the trek especially.
There was a group from NewZealand around 6-7 of them. They must be all around 60s or well past them!. Doing the same thing that we were doing, They will get up very early and always walk in a group. Around midday when I used to cross them, they will be still keeping up their steady pace. On the third day we came across the first of the river crossings , the water was not so deep around knee deep but the current was pretty strong, they crossed it without any fuss. Three of them will hold a walking stick and cross together, walking at an angle in the direction of the flow. They made it look so easy. After that we didn't see them the following day, we were trying to finish the trek a day earlier than the regular schedule. I will always remember them, things like this inspire you. When I grow old, If I grow old :), this incident is like, if they can, whats preventing me !.
On the 5th day came across this guy from Israel, He was trekking with his family, his daughter and wife. He is a guide by profession, was carrying all the detailed maps and doing it all alone, without the horses, guides etc.Another thing which he had was an altimeter and at that moment, it read 4730ms. Dont know if I will be able to do it, but I can imagine the bonding that this would create.
Its not even 10 days and I am dreaming of Nepal, possibly cause there is nothing much feeding my dream factory. Some homework that needs to be done.
1. Read up as much as possible on Maps, reading them, getting your orientation. Out there its very very important that you are on the right track.
2. Buy water proof gloves.
3. A good Swiss army knife.
4. A watch, which is totally water proof, has back light, altimeter.
5. Very good trekking shoes, need to research a lot on this.
6. Good quality sleeping bag, need research on this aswell.
7. Good quality walking poles, with compass.
8. More FITNESS, more cycling, gym and right food.
9. Knowledge of basic antidotes.
10. A waist pouch , for maps, ipod and other necessary stuff.
11. A Headlamp.
Lets see how it goes.
There was a group from NewZealand around 6-7 of them. They must be all around 60s or well past them!. Doing the same thing that we were doing, They will get up very early and always walk in a group. Around midday when I used to cross them, they will be still keeping up their steady pace. On the third day we came across the first of the river crossings , the water was not so deep around knee deep but the current was pretty strong, they crossed it without any fuss. Three of them will hold a walking stick and cross together, walking at an angle in the direction of the flow. They made it look so easy. After that we didn't see them the following day, we were trying to finish the trek a day earlier than the regular schedule. I will always remember them, things like this inspire you. When I grow old, If I grow old :), this incident is like, if they can, whats preventing me !.
On the 5th day came across this guy from Israel, He was trekking with his family, his daughter and wife. He is a guide by profession, was carrying all the detailed maps and doing it all alone, without the horses, guides etc.Another thing which he had was an altimeter and at that moment, it read 4730ms. Dont know if I will be able to do it, but I can imagine the bonding that this would create.
Its not even 10 days and I am dreaming of Nepal, possibly cause there is nothing much feeding my dream factory. Some homework that needs to be done.
1. Read up as much as possible on Maps, reading them, getting your orientation. Out there its very very important that you are on the right track.
2. Buy water proof gloves.
3. A good Swiss army knife.
4. A watch, which is totally water proof, has back light, altimeter.
5. Very good trekking shoes, need to research a lot on this.
6. Good quality sleeping bag, need research on this aswell.
7. Good quality walking poles, with compass.
8. More FITNESS, more cycling, gym and right food.
9. Knowledge of basic antidotes.
10. A waist pouch , for maps, ipod and other necessary stuff.
11. A Headlamp.
Lets see how it goes.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Back in One piece!
Well it was not that dangerous really, but there were moments for sure.First the drive from Manali to Keylong, the road was in a pretty bad shape , it was quite slippery as well, cause of the rain.
Then the drive from Keylong to Leh, when climbing the magnificent Gata Loops, it did feel a bit uneasy, that was the first real experience with altitude.
Leh was easy though, you feel breathless while walking on a flat piece of road, but then you kind of aspect it, and when you stop you tend to relax quickly, just a minor hiccup.
Drive through Khardung la was no big deal, no real altitude sickness feeling
While returning through Khardungla, getting stuck in snow and the subsequent trudge to the top,there was a slight concern for frostbite.
Then the trek, first night inside tent, I found it quite suffocating, It was around 2 AM in the morning, couldn't sleep, couldn't get out, cause it was really cold outside, I was thinking, how am I gonna spend 5 more nights in a tent ? Two people in a single tent was kind of crampy and am claustrophobic any way. I kept talking to myself about finding a solution, the solution was to sleep in reverse. Head of one to the toe of other, that just frees a little more space near your face. And work it did, slept pretty well after that.
This is one aspect of trekking,that stands out. Out there, you have to accept things the way they are and adjust, you don't have any other choice, Overcome all that nature and your own personality throws at you for the greater goal of making it to the end.
The last real scare came while climbing the top of Kongmarula, when climbing the last strech, it started to snow ,turned to hail, with thunder and wind. I was scared as scared as ever in my life, but never thought of turning back. There was the altitude and th fear of lightening as well, we were approaching 5300ms and I have never exerted myself at that altitude.
Thats the fun though, being where you have never been. In a way looking at life and asking what else you have got? felt that way. Standing on top of the pass I was sure of myself, sure as I have never been before. Its an amazing feeling to have the trust in yourself, in your spirit, in your body, it makes you very calm.
At the end of it all, you just say "It was walk in the park really". Well there is great deal more respect for nature now as much as for yourself. The other thing that got me excited was , I can be back here, my body reacted pretty well to the altitude, Some other day, some other peak, some other adventure !
Will update day be day itinerary as and when I find time to go through my diary and the voice recordings.
Then the drive from Keylong to Leh, when climbing the magnificent Gata Loops, it did feel a bit uneasy, that was the first real experience with altitude.
Leh was easy though, you feel breathless while walking on a flat piece of road, but then you kind of aspect it, and when you stop you tend to relax quickly, just a minor hiccup.
Drive through Khardung la was no big deal, no real altitude sickness feeling
While returning through Khardungla, getting stuck in snow and the subsequent trudge to the top,there was a slight concern for frostbite.
Then the trek, first night inside tent, I found it quite suffocating, It was around 2 AM in the morning, couldn't sleep, couldn't get out, cause it was really cold outside, I was thinking, how am I gonna spend 5 more nights in a tent ? Two people in a single tent was kind of crampy and am claustrophobic any way. I kept talking to myself about finding a solution, the solution was to sleep in reverse. Head of one to the toe of other, that just frees a little more space near your face. And work it did, slept pretty well after that.
This is one aspect of trekking,that stands out. Out there, you have to accept things the way they are and adjust, you don't have any other choice, Overcome all that nature and your own personality throws at you for the greater goal of making it to the end.
The last real scare came while climbing the top of Kongmarula, when climbing the last strech, it started to snow ,turned to hail, with thunder and wind. I was scared as scared as ever in my life, but never thought of turning back. There was the altitude and th fear of lightening as well, we were approaching 5300ms and I have never exerted myself at that altitude.
Thats the fun though, being where you have never been. In a way looking at life and asking what else you have got? felt that way. Standing on top of the pass I was sure of myself, sure as I have never been before. Its an amazing feeling to have the trust in yourself, in your spirit, in your body, it makes you very calm.
At the end of it all, you just say "It was walk in the park really". Well there is great deal more respect for nature now as much as for yourself. The other thing that got me excited was , I can be back here, my body reacted pretty well to the altitude, Some other day, some other peak, some other adventure !
Will update day be day itinerary as and when I find time to go through my diary and the voice recordings.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
So Long!
Probably the last update .... I didn't like the way I started that. Of course I will come back, what I meant was I wont be having internet access for quite some time so no updates in between.
Tomorrow we start, essentially my longest and most ambitious travel plan so far, not to say the most expensive. Packing is almost done, I am not being too serious abt it, no matter what I will definitely leave a few things behind. Some of it I will suddenly remember after abt 1~2 kms from home, others when I need them and don't find them. This has been a pattern , Its so easy when u make peace with something, you accept it the way it is, so I am not too worried abt the packing.
564 pics per memory card so in total abt 1100 pics, would have loved to strech it but 4GB memory cards don't work with D50. Will have to pick some books, tonight I pick some in Crossword, but they don't really stock travel books , so will have to try my luck at the airport and then in Manali and Leh. Lonely planet recommends a few bookshops there, so hopeful to find what I am looking for.
Ipod is ready with Rock and Country and Prayers , would have loved to add some more variety , but the machine crash a month back didn't help, it takes time to reconstruct the collection.
Teh only thing I feel I am not really prepared for is Cold, my winter wear is pretty scant thanks to the temp in Hyderabad. So banking on stuff available on rent in Leh.Something ominous, I feel I am going to have cold, Its not really cold here but suddenly its feeling that way, you know, the way it feels before u actually catch cold.
Should have taken some pills for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) but no time for that, Planning to do that either in Manali or Leh.Would have loved to carry an altimeter, but no time for that now.
Couple of things that I intend to buy today are
a) Voice recorder
b) Flash light
c) 1 pen/1 pencil. don't know if pens will work in that cold.(Sometimes I am surprised by my smartness :), really this was an impromptu thought, I didn't read it anywhere,you might say its common knowledge, but hey its my blog, and I have a weakness towards indulgence).
So see you on the other side of the trip!
Tomorrow we start, essentially my longest and most ambitious travel plan so far, not to say the most expensive. Packing is almost done, I am not being too serious abt it, no matter what I will definitely leave a few things behind. Some of it I will suddenly remember after abt 1~2 kms from home, others when I need them and don't find them. This has been a pattern , Its so easy when u make peace with something, you accept it the way it is, so I am not too worried abt the packing.
564 pics per memory card so in total abt 1100 pics, would have loved to strech it but 4GB memory cards don't work with D50. Will have to pick some books, tonight I pick some in Crossword, but they don't really stock travel books , so will have to try my luck at the airport and then in Manali and Leh. Lonely planet recommends a few bookshops there, so hopeful to find what I am looking for.
Ipod is ready with Rock and Country and Prayers , would have loved to add some more variety , but the machine crash a month back didn't help, it takes time to reconstruct the collection.
Teh only thing I feel I am not really prepared for is Cold, my winter wear is pretty scant thanks to the temp in Hyderabad. So banking on stuff available on rent in Leh.Something ominous, I feel I am going to have cold, Its not really cold here but suddenly its feeling that way, you know, the way it feels before u actually catch cold.
Should have taken some pills for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) but no time for that, Planning to do that either in Manali or Leh.Would have loved to carry an altimeter, but no time for that now.
Couple of things that I intend to buy today are
a) Voice recorder
b) Flash light
c) 1 pen/1 pencil. don't know if pens will work in that cold.(Sometimes I am surprised by my smartness :), really this was an impromptu thought, I didn't read it anywhere,you might say its common knowledge, but hey its my blog, and I have a weakness towards indulgence).
So see you on the other side of the trip!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Change of Plans
They say planning a trip is as much fun as the trip itself, and they were right.
The planning has been going on for quite some time, but with just over a week to go, it is acquiring some seriousness.Yesterday I happened to meet Srinivas, we were taking the same home drop. (Note to myself: got to improve my social skills, I didnt wish him properly before taking his leave, I can be quite clumsy sometimes).
Anyways the bottom line was, he has been to Leh earlier and seemed to know the place. So today after discussing with him, our earlier plan more or less dissolved, We are inclined to take everything as and when it comes. So the flight tickets remain and so does the booking in Manali. From then onwards we dont know for sure ... this will be fun.
Broadly from Manali we are going to travel by road to Leh, visit monastries and villages, go on a trek come back.
Today we make a list of things to carry, so some shopping over the weekend. I have to get an extra memory card and a battery pack. And some books
The planning has been going on for quite some time, but with just over a week to go, it is acquiring some seriousness.Yesterday I happened to meet Srinivas, we were taking the same home drop. (Note to myself: got to improve my social skills, I didnt wish him properly before taking his leave, I can be quite clumsy sometimes).
Anyways the bottom line was, he has been to Leh earlier and seemed to know the place. So today after discussing with him, our earlier plan more or less dissolved, We are inclined to take everything as and when it comes. So the flight tickets remain and so does the booking in Manali. From then onwards we dont know for sure ... this will be fun.
Broadly from Manali we are going to travel by road to Leh, visit monastries and villages, go on a trek come back.
Today we make a list of things to carry, so some shopping over the weekend. I have to get an extra memory card and a battery pack. And some books
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