Traveling is good
There is a barricade at the brink of the ‘sunset point’ hill, lest people fall in the valley, mad by the red in the sky. There is ample space to enjoy the sunset for all: men, women, children, horses and monkeys. Everyone has more or less a chance of finding a good corner to sit but in solitude. It so happens that monkeys decide to practice acrobatics at the barricade and thus occupy the prime position, sending all the humans back.
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After reaching Lamuney campsite, I went inside my tent to nurse my sprained ankle with volini spray and a bandage. Here as I lay down for an hour looking at Pandim, I was reminiscing the heavenly sunrise of Goechala viewpoint. Prasanto came over to my tent. I narrated to him the experience while going through the pictures in the camera and having breakfast.
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We reached the city at around 1230 hrs and found a place to park the car and went straight to the market place of the Mall area where maximum numbers of restaurants were there.We had a hearty lunch in a place, overlooking the descent of hill terrain and numerous colorful civilization monumented by the tiny match box like houses. After lunch we went straight to the Ranikhet Golf Course nearby and after that around 55 kms drive to Kausani.
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We gathered in small groups in the tents to chat and while away the time. Dinner was served at around 8 p.m. at the one- room camp house which was occupied by cook Sumit Rai and his men. When I had ventured out of my tent around mid-night to go to the toilet-tent, I was awestruck on seeing small silvery snowflakes dropping from a clear sky. The moon shone in its silvery best.
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One can see many venomous and non venomous snake which were rescued from the forest near by. The park had a collection of variety of birds also like Turkey, Emu, etc. Some days ago before we reached there a thunderstorm made havoc and the park was disoriented a bit.
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There were many Kamat Upachar all the way through, but we chose to stop near tumkur. Immediately after the tumkur toll there was this Kamat. The lunch was excellent . They also serve in the traditional banana leaf. Enjoyed the food, the quality was very nice. We took quite sometime at this restaurant and left by 2 p.m. to Bangalore.
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There are two different legends that explains the origin of Kheerganga – One says that Lord Shiva meditated here for thousands of years and another says that Kartikeya, son of Lord Shiva and Parvati meditated here and the natural spring was emerged when Shiva struck the ground with His trishul on Parvati’s request as she was worried that her son wouldn’t get anything to eat here.
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The Zamindars and the royal family members of Burdwan used this place as a hunting spot and constructed several Machans for their convenience. Thus Bhalki and Machan combined to give the place its current name Bhalki Machan. The etymology can be broken down into Bhalu ki Machan. Bhalu means bear. Machan means an elevated resting place for the hunters to hunt down wild animals.
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Almost 350 KMs out of 474 KMs long Leh – Manali Highway, does not have any civilization, although you would find some tented accommodations and tea stalls at every 30 to 40 KM. It is necessary to carry extra fuel because there is no petrol station from Leh till Tandi (around 365 KMs).
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Lamayuru is also place where we found famous Moon Land, these are soft craters, golden color land simply add charm to the beauty of Lamayuru. One can learn the science of mountain formation looking at moon land, which is neither a rock nor dust.
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Had a lunch/prayer break at world’s second coldest inhabited place Drass (after Siberia). Winters in Drass are cold with average lows around −22 °C and as low as −45 °C at the peak of winter. The lowest temperature was recorded around −60 °C during 2005. We were told by some locals that everybody in mountain keeps at least 4 to 6 months food stock for emergencies.
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Into the thin air, I was struggling hard for a breath of air. I’ve not climbed above 5300m before and with only 50% oxygen in the air, was struggling even more walking across the ridge. I sat down on a boulder to rest, grasp more air and stop my heart pounding high. This morning, for the first time, oxygen saturation level in my blood dipped below 80 and the altitude began to take toll on me. But no way could I give it up. I was so close of my dream destination, Everest Base Camp! I climbed up this much and was only an hour walk away from it. “Come on Anupam, you can do it!” yelled my guide. I stood up again, mumbled under my breath “Slowly Slowly, Bistar Bistar”, the Nepalese Mantra I learned from my guide for climbing high altitudes. The sense of following the footsteps of many legendary Mountaineers who conquered Everest was boosting my morale and finally I reached the head of downward trail to the Base Camp. I could clearly see from there, the Base camp, Khumbu Ice fall and the Mt Everest. It was then a few minutes’ walking down to the base where rocks were piled up and covered with colourful prayer flags announcing the destination, Everest Base Camp at 5364m!
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