A trek for babies?
Today my trek starts, more precisely the Baby Trek, a trek for babies, because it is apparently not supposed to be very demanding compared to the "real" ones like the Marka Trek. So for once I am modest, content with the simplest, and hope to combine the pleasant with the demanding.
Let's see what kind of babies they mean ...
Chin
It's afternoon when I finally find the bus station after several attempts. It is located quite far out of the city center. But that is not the end of the searching, because there are
a) the big buses (which do not drive to Likir)
b) the taxis (which are way too expensive)
c) the smaller buses
The latter ones would actually be the right ones if they could be found. With a bit of charm and further asking, I finally find what I'm looking for and get onto an old-looking vehicle (an hour and a half before departure). Later it will turn out that this is a wise decision, because the still quite empty vehicle will fill up in the next 90 minutes to the last seat. As always, I choose the back row, a young girl is already sitting with her backpack at the window. She turns out to be a Chinese girl named Chin, and she has the same destination as me.
That's good.
Gas bottles on the adjacent seat
The bus leaves more punctually than expected, in the meantime packed with a collection of different people. Besides passengers, there are an extra thousand bags, containers, something that looks like Hullahopp rings, tin boxes and even quite dangerous looking gas bottles stowed on, next to and under the seats. My question, whether these things might explode, is answered with a hearty laugh. Okay then!
The chauffeur has obviously been watching some Jason Bourne action flicks, because he decides to drive in the wrong lane for the time being. This leads to some pretty dynamic maneuvers and loud protesting honking, but the driver doesn't seem to care in the slightest. I do care a bit more, because what do I have to be prepared for the next few hours?
House on the roof
The journey does not take long, because after half an hour we are still in Leh, because at several stops in some backyards half a house is loaded onto the roof. Wooden planks, metal wheels, tools, more gas bottles, cement bags and the hangman knows what. The air resistance must be gigantic.
With the exception of the ubiquitous buses, there is no public transport in Ladakh. Everything, people, animals, material, food, and anything else that is needed anywhere, can only be transported by buses or trucks. Very few people have their own car, so any movement from A to B is usually done by bus. With small ones, medium, large, old, new and those like mine in a condition that might cause evil …
Tight and happy
My fellow passengers seem not to be tense in the least, not even the daring manoeuvres of the driver are cause for concern. People are used to a lot of things here, and so I put the inner joystick on relaxation and wait for the things to come.
With the exception of Chin and me, all passengers are locals. They have a good time, chatting and laughing, and despite the extremely crowded conditions they seem to have a lot of fun. And if someone on the roadmis looking for a ride, he won't be disappointed, because there is always an unoccupied square centimetre somewhere.
The atmosphere remains cheerful throughout the trip. Loud laughter and gossip are the constant companions, while in front of the window the landscape rushes by. I drive the route for the second time, but it still seems unknown to me. The pictures flow into each other, hills – yellow, brown, black, violet, and mountains, crowned with white caps, of majestic splendour and disturbing size. In between the Indus, sometimes calmly gliding, pretending an irritating guilelessness, in the next moment mutating into a wild beast.
Likir
A few hours later the bus has mastered all the passes and curves with frightening squeaking brakes. Now the same procedure of loading/unloading happens to the passengers and the house on the roof, just the other way round. The bus struggles its way up to the most inaccessible villages, sometimes consisting only of two or three houses, somewhere in enchanted valleys, to get rid of the materials. And also the people leave us, and at some point we are the last Mohicans in the bus.
It is evening, when we reach Likir, and we have to find a guesthouse.
The bus driver knows his way around the village, as well as the establishments where he can expect the highest commissions. And so we end up – a little above the village – at the Dolker Guesthouse. It turns out to be an extraordinarily pleasant hotel where we feel immediately at home.
Part of the family
A guesthouse is not different from a so-called homestay, i.e. a private provider of accommodation. The nice thing about it is that you are part of the family, eating in the same room and trying to talk to the grandparents, while the two kids of the house drive around the living room with small bicycles.
You sit on the customary seats on the floor in front of low tables and don't know where to put your legs. Finally the food is served, tonight Momos, but this time not filled with goat meat (I hope). In any case, the food is very tasty and the atmosphere is simply wonderful. The cordiality of the Ladakhis is heart-rending, and once again you can see how much we have lost in our own world.
Communication despite linguistic limitations
We will hardly be able to talk about the theory of relativity, but despite the linguistic limits a kind of communication is always possible. That's the fascinating thing. We don't understand a word of Ladakhi or whatever people are speaking here, and conversely only the lady of the house masters a few necessary bits of English. And yet we learn a lot. One communicates with hands and feet, one observes, draws up theses, what exactly happens there, draws conclusions and in the end has gained a reasonably meaningful insight into another world.
That's all it takes to understand that we are one ...
Geographical discoveries
Chin is an exciting conversational partner, and once again it is impressive to see how much one is influenced by prejudices. She shares her worries, the unbearable stress at her previous place of work. She has quit her job despite good earning opportunities and now wants to find out in Ladakh where she is heading for. Again and again astounding and eye-opening when you can take a look behind the curtains of a supposedly homogeneous culture.
Less surprising then when she discovers in my guidebook that China is actually occupying a part of Ladakh. Apparently no topic in the geography lesson ...
And then withdrawal to the room, to the sleeping bag, to the dreams of tomorrow's efforts ...
P.S. Matching Song: Billy Talent - Surprise Surprise
And here the journey continues ... with day 1 on the Baby Trek
