Alchi Part 2 and the Three Legged Wooly Yak

Day 14 – Exploring Alchi

An Early Morning Run

Occasionally, my body clock decides that it's time to wake up, and it won't take "no" for an answer.  This time it was 3:30 AM.  Feeling good and acclimatized, I decided to go for an early morning run to test my lungs. By 4 AM, I was dressed and ready for a run. 

Problem #1: I was locked in! Once I slipped out of my room, the main door to the building was locked.  I heard the sound of running water outside one of the side rooms.  Sure enough, there was a large open window on the ground floor. I climbed out and snuck along the side of the hotel to the front  gate.

Problem #2: The gate to the compound entrance was bolted shut (not locked). I did my best to unbolt it without making a noise.  Now, I felt like a burglar in the night; completely dressed in sheer black running clothes, someone spotting me slinking around might get the wrong idea.

Once free of the hotel compound and on the only road, I walked out of the main part of town and then stretched my legs into a run.  It felt great to finally get a little strenuous exercise, and the altitude definitely put me through my paces.  After a time, I slowed and sat down on a wall near a resting water buffalo to watch the sun come up together.  We exchanged a meaningful glance, and enjoyed the companionable silence, gazing at the dark sky, bejeweled by a thick coat of stars.

After an hour of watching stars and the gradual adjustments in light and color as the sun rose over the Himalayas surrounding my little valley, I walked back into town and snuck back into my room.

 

The Royal Enfield Gang

Once showered and changed, I walked down to breakfast at "the" restaurant (there was only one I saw in town). On the way there, I noticed about 8 or 10 Royal Enfield motorcycles in the parking lot of our hotel. Apparently, the prior afternoon they had rolled into town and were staying at our hotel on their way through the Leh-Manali road. There are tours and trekking companies that will take you through many parts of India, Nepal, China and Burma on a motorcycle.

Indians are proud of their Royal Enfields.  They are quick to point out the perfect rhythm of the deep and satisfying phut-phut-phut sound they make. One person pointed out that, unlike the Harley Davidson which has a periodic sound like the timing is off, the Royal Enfield has a perfect, infinite, consistently rhythmic sound.  The Royal Enfield is the Harley Davidson of India, and I have since noticed them all over India.

 

A Half-Day Hike

Our tour had a flexible schedule on this day, where we could optionally go for a half-day hike and then come back and see the local monastery.  A few folks on our tour had read about Lamayuru (a 2-3 hour drive from Alchi) and asked our tour leader to organize a little expedition for the day.  So, all but three of us departed for Lamayuru. 

Despite my early morning run, I still felt like stretching my legs and exploring Alchi a bit. Sitting in cars for 5-12 hours a day can get a bit tiring.  So, Eoin, Susie and I had the morning to ourselves.  Baru arranged for a local guide to take us down a 12-20 km hike that should take a half day. He turned out to be a silent teenager, who led us to a trailhead and walked quietly with us for 5 hours or so.

The nicest part of this walk was the company. We had a nice long walk and a nice long talk. Along the way, we saw the construction of a large dam (with signs warning against photography). It seemed to us that this would be the perfect place for a bald, James Bond villain (petting the bald, miniaturized yak on his lap) to launch his plot for world domination and ransom.  He would launch his evil plan upon the world into the Indus river. We also thought that the extra wooly, three legged yak that we ran into a half hour later might be strangely linked with Dr. Shiva Reddy Evil – some kind of experiment gone awry. Well, I guess you had to be there.  We had a good laugh about it.

We passed by a couple small settlements, and around 10:30 AM, we decided to stop and eat the snacks we'd picked up at the "German Bakery".

All right, necessary side bar here on "German Bakeries" in Ledakh. I'm not sure why they insist on calling them "German".  Perhaps there was at one time an influx of Germans who opened bakeries in Ledakh? The goodies found at these German Bakeries were fairly consistent. Butter cookies, peanut cookies, croissants, pies, cakes, cream puffs, yak cheese (yes, I said "yak cheese"), puff pastries, choco-balls (South Park Fans, they were delicious but not salty), choco-this, choco-that, and on and on. But of course, who could wash all this down without mango juice?  The German Bakeries were a life saver. Every 2-3 days, I would stock up on road snacks at a German Bakery, which gave me some simple gastric alternatives to the delicious masala and curried potato chips and savories sold at every other snack shop.

We had a good little 20 minute rest in the shade next to a stream amidst a handful of stone farm houses, and then turned around.  Our little 5 hour walk was perfect.  A little exercise, clean air, a few laughs, and a peaceful afternoon ahead. 

  

Upon returning, we stopped at the German Bakery and I just had to enjoy a choco-ball (for Chef's sake).

The remainder of our group returned from Lamayuru, and we walked a bit more around the village before dinner. We did see a very local Buddhist temple in Alchi, but by this time I was starting to drag.  The morning run and the 5 hour walk must have taken it out of me. I'll blame it on high-altitude.

Radio Silence – Okay, another side-bar. By now it had been four days since I had made contact with the outside world. My cell phone still disappointingly said "No Service", and of course the little farming village of Alchi had no WiFi for sale.  By now, I was beginning to worry about what might be going on back home.  During this trip, my son was in his first weeks of college, and I had been staying in contact with friends and family back home every couple of days.  I just didn't want them to worry that I'd dropped off the grid suddenly with no warning. Baru's phone would work in Leh but not Alchi.  Perhaps experimenting with SIM cards in my phone would be the answer.  Or trying out one of the STD/ISD booths in town.

Next day, we'd be packing it in early and heading back to Leh. I was sad to see Alchi behind us, but looking forward to the relatively larger city of Leh.