I woke up at 3:30am (Parth hadn't slept at all) and forced ourselves to get ready. the taxi walah was supposed to come at 4:00am and it was already 4:10am with no sign of him. we locked the apartment and came on the street to save time.. we had flight at 5:40 .. and we should not miss it at any cost...
then the taxi reached and we felt relieved.. after some moaning we started and it didn't take long before we were at airport.. at least at that time the roads of Delhi were at rest..
During the flight I met a guy from Czech Republic who was wearing a hand-crafted T-shirt with 'Stok Kangari' written on it. This guy (and his group) had come come to India and was flying to Leh just to climb this summit.
I forgot to mention that when we were searching for various trekking possibilities around Leh we had kind of finalized to go for the very same trek.. main reason was the impossible height - 6152m of the summit and the information that we got from various sources that it is not so difficult (technically) despite its height. (I think this was our biggest mistake to not interpret it correctly). I was tooooo excited with the mere thought of touching this altitude.
So this guy immediately made me realize that we are not planning a normal trek but a very special one for which people fly 5000kms and prepare for weeks.. I also realized for the first time that it will not be as easy as I was imagining .. altitude is not just an number.. it is much more than that... there is no need to mention that he and his group was looking twice more fit, more stronger and more prepared than us.. he listened to my plan patiently and insisted on only one thing that we should spend at least 3-days for acclimatization before trying out anything like this (while our plan to start some activities from 2nd day) and then he literally wished me luck ... :( ... among all other stuff he was also carrying a small Czech flag which he wanted to flaunt on the summit of Stok Kangari.. I was speechless..
one good thing about Delhi-Leh flight is that if you are lucky enough to get a window seat then you can see unforgettable view of Leh and the surrounding area... it was a treat..
when the plane touched the ground I was eagerly waiting for plane doors to open to breath the fresh air .. as if the thin air of Leh was my enemy and I wanted to see its reaction on my daring to reach there by plane .. (it is said that to avoid altitude sickness in Leh which is at 3500m, it is safer to go there by road rather than in a airplane. Many people just can't avoid sickness after travelling by air and that was the reason why we had approached that place by road last time).
But it is quite different, it wasn't my enemy but it welcomed me with snow covered mountains and clear blue sky.. I didnt quite feel the difference due to altitude (I later understood that I was too tired to feel anything ;-))
I was so excited about reaching there and eager to feel the fresh air that I forgot my jacket in airplane which I realized while collecting checked-in bag.. fortunately the airline staff had noticed and they had it with them.
we took a taxi and reached Leh town. The leh city seemed so homely and friendly this time (which was completely contrasting to our last visit when the lifeless dusty mountains were threatening us). This time we knew the streets, people (some nice agency guys who arranged things for us last time), shops, restaurants and most importantly the place where we would stay.. we went straight to our last time choice 'Khan Manjil guest house' and unloaded ourselves for a direct 5-hours sleep.
mountains covered partly in snow were clearly visible from our Guest house and were like inviting us .. and I had one answer: wait! I will come soon...
but we were feeling so tired and sleepy that it was like hell to wakeup at 2:00PM and get out for lunch... we were feeling more tired now than what we were feeling in the morning ... was altitude showing its effect?
I was afraid what is going to come first.. altitude sickness or bad stomach?
after lunch we wanted to come back and complete the sleep but we had to do some work as well.. we had the tough task of finding an agency who could arrange 'Stok Kangari trek' for us.. the arrangement would include Guide, Cook, food, logistics (tents, sleeping bags etc...) and horses for carrying all the stuff...
we visited countless shops in that attempt to find if some agency already has a group of people leaving in next few days (on 4th or 5th July).
at one agency we were told that they have a group of 7 people mostly Israeli.. but then learnt in next hour that they didnt want others to join .. :(
after some more hopping to shops we went to this shop who already had a group of 2 girls and 1 guy planning to start for Stok Kangiri trek on 5th July . we felt relieved as not able to find a proper group would have spoiled all our plans and it was sounding good also from acclimatization point of view as by 5th we would have spent 3 days in Leh.. these guys were already trekking somewhere and were supposed to reach Leh on 4th itself..
after all this hunting for few hours we came back to our room and slept again for 2 hours (this time 7:00PM -9:00PM).. our sleep pattern was completely broken and I was also coping with jet-lag ..
we went for dinner and here I made a big mistake .. I failed to control myself this time and took somewhat heavy dinner which later on proved fatal for me.. after dinner I went to sleep normally but then suddenly woke up at 3:00am and couldn't sleep further.. i wasn't sure what was the reason.. was that altitude, broken sleep pattern or altitude... i was feeling tired like never before and was completely disoriented .. I was awake and lying on the bed but was unable to gather any thoughts .. ANY THOUGHTS (something which usually happens in very high fever) ... I felt terrible and I just waited when this night would get over and there will be light again ........
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