I started making my notes using mindmaps and breeze through it. It's much later now but helps me recollect the day fairly easily. The brain doesn't think linearly as in text, as in time...it thinks in random as in blobs of time, places, incidents, images...
DAY 8
It was a nice normal trek day. We stopped for lunch at Goyul village in a herder's house. As we entered Goyul, I remember seeing yaks and farmers plowing the field. There was one farmer with glasses...dignified in his dress (maroon stripes on a cream), demeanor. I remember a mother calling out to her toddler and pointing to me, then to my chin...they don't usually see bearded men in those areas. There was one toothless girl in jeans...staring.
Inside the house, I saw pieces of yak hanging from the ceiling...it doesn't get spoilt...the whole environment acts as a big refrigerator. There was a shelf with several music cassettes. There was one toothbrush lying around. There were vessels of all sizes...big aluminum ones...small ones. The family left their main living-kitchen area for us to sit. Divya sat with one of the kids - a Madhav-like boy...quiet and understanding...chatted him and his sister.
Cookie was our cook - his lunch always tasted similar - at least to me. I was simply thankful for all the vegetables we were getting to eat in these desolate regions. I wrote a lot about Cookie in the Natgeo article. It was nice to observe him - he was very calm always.
After lunch, Jyoti pointed out to a Juniper tree outside and said...it must be at least over a hundred years old. At 5 years, they grow only to 2-3 feet. This was a rather tall one. We climbed up from there...saw a flock of blue sheep (they don't look blue)...they were as surprised to see us as we were of them. We passed through Linghi Dzong.
At night, I was taking a dump somewhere near the campsite and I realized a dog was closeby...it could see me but I couldn't. I quickly wrapped up my task and trotted back to camp. Dogs barked all night. The whole place smelt of animals and poop in general.
DAY 9
This day was tough but nice.
I panted, climbed, panted, climbed...up to Goku La/ Gobu La. On the other side, the slide down was steep - in the distance were several other snow-covered mountains. But we couldn't see that much - we could see occasionally - there was a lot of snow. On the way, one of us broke down...the climb with feet treading in and out of the snow was too much. "Am not a f**king mountaineer!"...I remember hearing that. Cookie sat and waited until there was calm again. And we continued up to the top.
While we were climbing down from Goku La to the lunch spot...we suddenly thought Dorji was lost...he was one of the staff...it so happened that he was listening to his iPod and couldn't hear us screaming through the mountains for him. I found this whole mountain communication thing interesting - a lot it dependent on how sound reflects and people midway also pass the message on.
At the campsite, I hung out at the kitchen tent with the staff. They made some interesting eatery...very yum...local stuff. I wanted to make masala papad. In doing that I cut my finger. I also saw Dorji using his big knife to cut tomatoes...he had used it earlier to cut the tail of a dead yak. Ouch.
Yenten (another staff, also son of the organizer) picked up a puppy along the way...naming him Shomuthang puppy...our campsite. There were three dogs that followed us through the trek...this one was amongst them....someone or the other would put it in a bag and carry it across.
DAY 8
It was a nice normal trek day. We stopped for lunch at Goyul village in a herder's house. As we entered Goyul, I remember seeing yaks and farmers plowing the field. There was one farmer with glasses...dignified in his dress (maroon stripes on a cream), demeanor. I remember a mother calling out to her toddler and pointing to me, then to my chin...they don't usually see bearded men in those areas. There was one toothless girl in jeans...staring.
Inside the house, I saw pieces of yak hanging from the ceiling...it doesn't get spoilt...the whole environment acts as a big refrigerator. There was a shelf with several music cassettes. There was one toothbrush lying around. There were vessels of all sizes...big aluminum ones...small ones. The family left their main living-kitchen area for us to sit. Divya sat with one of the kids - a Madhav-like boy...quiet and understanding...chatted him and his sister.
Cookie was our cook - his lunch always tasted similar - at least to me. I was simply thankful for all the vegetables we were getting to eat in these desolate regions. I wrote a lot about Cookie in the Natgeo article. It was nice to observe him - he was very calm always.
After lunch, Jyoti pointed out to a Juniper tree outside and said...it must be at least over a hundred years old. At 5 years, they grow only to 2-3 feet. This was a rather tall one. We climbed up from there...saw a flock of blue sheep (they don't look blue)...they were as surprised to see us as we were of them. We passed through Linghi Dzong.
At night, I was taking a dump somewhere near the campsite and I realized a dog was closeby...it could see me but I couldn't. I quickly wrapped up my task and trotted back to camp. Dogs barked all night. The whole place smelt of animals and poop in general.
DAY 9
This day was tough but nice.
I panted, climbed, panted, climbed...up to Goku La/ Gobu La. On the other side, the slide down was steep - in the distance were several other snow-covered mountains. But we couldn't see that much - we could see occasionally - there was a lot of snow. On the way, one of us broke down...the climb with feet treading in and out of the snow was too much. "Am not a f**king mountaineer!"...I remember hearing that. Cookie sat and waited until there was calm again. And we continued up to the top.
While we were climbing down from Goku La to the lunch spot...we suddenly thought Dorji was lost...he was one of the staff...it so happened that he was listening to his iPod and couldn't hear us screaming through the mountains for him. I found this whole mountain communication thing interesting - a lot it dependent on how sound reflects and people midway also pass the message on.
At the campsite, I hung out at the kitchen tent with the staff. They made some interesting eatery...very yum...local stuff. I wanted to make masala papad. In doing that I cut my finger. I also saw Dorji using his big knife to cut tomatoes...he had used it earlier to cut the tail of a dead yak. Ouch.
Yenten (another staff, also son of the organizer) picked up a puppy along the way...naming him Shomuthang puppy...our campsite. There were three dogs that followed us through the trek...this one was amongst them....someone or the other would put it in a bag and carry it across.
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