Joy and Happiness

It’s always a joy,  to walk for peace, …. But here, back in the high mountains,  after Spiti, just fantastic. Not without any ‚work out‘, but just wonderful. I feel sooo good at 4.000 m and above…. great.

In Sarchu the first surprise. All the ‚villages‘ at the next 300km are only there in summer, when the passes are open and temporary. Some of them are just tents, some a bit more solid metal based, and some few solid super simple houses who are abandoned in winter. Real Ladakh villages are surprisingly not laying at this road, only further away from it. – The women,  who own the most of the Dhabas in Sarchu are on strike!!! There was a arguing with the police, whithin the police mentioned to maybe close the shops, a stone hit one officer…. I don’t know the details…  But the women then closed the shops by themself… to go for there rights….
Anyway, I can not stay there and they sent me to the BRO (Border road orga) some 100 m further. Here I meet again the commander from last year. Back then I asked him for dry fruits to bye – he remembered later – and I can stay there in the camp, but only for one night. What’s a problem, because I have a beginning blister problem under my right foot, and I wanted to rest… and find out the reason….

The commander, Mr. Mishra, is so friendly to hand over a big hand of dry raisins and a fresh mango. Further he mentioned that just 20km away there, at Brandy bridge, is the next camp. Oh… I did not know about that. Good news. So I have a very lazy slow day, taking a short cut by crossing successfully a river, having a meditation on a outstanding rock formation overviewing the ‚Sarchu valley‘ and letting it go slow. (Sarchu lays where 5 big valleys meet on a plain, where 3 rivers have engraved there beds. For me this is a perfect spot to create a new modern city with only renewable energies and research institutes for future and clean technologies. I see gondola connect the river sides, bycicle driving around. It is possible to have alternativ transportation and nearly no cars.) But… arriving there,  at Brandy bridge…. it’s not a real camp, there are workers and a mashine, sorting stones for size for constructions…. – I can’t stay here –
Some 100 m after this realisation I meet a cyclist, Ioka from Netherlands. The solution is, to continue walking to Whisky Nala, about 25km away. It is 5.30pm….. run is gone at 8pm…. But there is a short cut for walkers, because here comes a huge uphill area with 21 loops…. I can go up at the side. It’s going steep 400 to 500m up. With the mountain shadow being always one loop further up I am challenged,  because I want to see the sun again, when I am up there. It takes 70minutes to reach the to…. yeah in the sunshine…. But the rest is hard… with my blister issues, the coldness and the dark… the moon is not even new moon, not helping at all, I arrive at 10.30pm at the camp.
The couple is a bit distanced to me in the beginning. But with my meditation disciplines I harvest from him ‚very good, very good, very very good…‘
I find out, the reason of having the blisters…. after the sandal fixing I did not loose up the strings, so it was a bit to tied….. after two nights I walk to Pank – having another, two day rest….

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