Ladakh trekking trip – Day 3

If you missed day 2, you can see it here.

Hey folks, if you’ve been following along, you won’t be too surprised about the events of day 3, but there are still some nice events to report.

To begin with, I got way more excitement out of making some minor purchases than should reasonably be expected. First, Dorothée and Betsy convinced me that I really should have some water resistant clothing, just in case of unexpected showers. I wasn’t particularly keen on a jacket nor pants, since regardless of the temperature, rain gear generally makes me so incredibly hot that I just prefer to be soaked. I did however consent that a nice rain poncho would be acceptable since it would be loose fitting and also capable of covering the backpack, but they both suspected I wouldn’t be able to find one. However, the Himalayan Trekking Gear store in Leh begged to differ!

Then I started looking around and found several other items; although only a couple of them were from the trekking store. Regardless, as mentioned earlier, I was very excited about all of them.

The orange thing is a full body size microfiber towel which can double as a top sheet or even a cover if needed. The super thin stretchy gloves are less about keeping my hands cool and more about keeping them from chapping so much due to the combination of low humidity, cool temperature and wind. Those combined with the teal colored small container of intensive care moisturizer will be a big help both for my hands and my face. Finally, there’s the only purchase I had actually planned on for today, the chapstick! I’m not sure why, but it is specifically designated as “for men” as I pointed out to Betsy when she also bought a stick for herself. She wasn’t too concerned about it, but now a tiny part of me is wondering what possibly might go wrong now that she has the wrong gender of chapstick? I will certainly be on the lookout for associated problems!

An interesting little shop as we walked to town.

While I was not incredibly enthusiastic about the prospect, after returning briefly to the homestay we decided to go ahead and make that trip to Shanti Stupa (not sure of the spelling). I wouldn’t call it a “must see” but if you have a bit of extra time while in Leh, I think it’s definitely worth a visit. For those who are less athletic, you can actually drive all the way up. But as the whole point of this trip is supposed to be trekking, we decided that would be cheating . . . So, we took the stairs and I’m glad we did, since a lot would be missed by not walking.

A brave bee on an even braver flower which was along the path

There were a lot of these little rock stacks along the path. I don’t know their function.

These were clearly crypts of some sort, but it was also clear that the bodies are removed after a certain time. I’d like to know more about them.

However, as mentioned earlier, even if you decide to forgo the steps, you still get a very nice experience once you get to the top.

There are too many amazing landscape photos to be taken from this site.

The happy trio, and yes, It’s cold. Cover your ears or risk the consequences.

So I finished up the day by removing about a fourth of what I had originally packed. The rest will be left behind at the homestay, since we will be coming back for the final night once we finish the actual trek. I probably should have removed even more, but this is my first time to do this, so lessons will be learnt along the way. I’m still a bit nervous about the whole trek, but also excited to be doing something new. It’s likely that I won’t be able to keep up with daily posts going forward, but I will certainly do my best. Wish me luck, and if that’s your thing, I ask that you also keep me in your prayers. I hope to catch up with you again soon!