Finding the ways of the Moon

Up and Up we walked. It became a sort of walking meditation.Each one of us finding our own pace. I like to count rhythms in my head keeping the beat with my body and breath. I sang songs and listened to the music inside my head (these were days long before the I-pod) as I took each step climbing higher and higher and the oxygen became thiner and thiner. I looked around in wonderment. .

I usually was the first to ascend a pass as Scarpa had to tend with the donkey and Steve was not so cardiovascularly inclined. At the tops of all the Ladakhi passes, there are always many strands of prayer flags mostly torn and faded from the elements they endure over the extreme seasons. Om Mani Padme Hum. Apparently the Tibetan Buddhists believe that viewing the mantra is as powerful as reciting it, so you will find the mantra written on prayer flags, etched in stones used as Mani walls that are all along these ancient roads. Another common site is a chorten or stupa which is a Buddhist monument symbolically shaped to represent earth, water, fire and enlightenment.

We stopped, Scarpa made tea. Go figure? I don't know if you have ever tried, but there is certainly an art to making a fire at 16,000+ feet without camp stoves etc. Just Yak dung and a lighter. Simplicity. It takes time for water at these altitudes so patience is mandatory. Let's just hope the weather holds..

This time it did. Again we walked and walked and walked until we finally came upon a beautiful green fertile hamlet. This is where we were to spend the night.
Scarpa went up ahead to see if he could find a local and ask them if we could crash on their roof and/or property.

This should have been an omen. As Steve and I walked down towards the village, 3 young Ladakhi ladies dressed in tattered layered garments with thick double platted braids quickly approached us. They obviously had not seen to many foreigners. They circled me and examined my silver Tibetan bracelets I had bought while in Leh. They touched my rings and motioned for me to take them off...Ah no I thought, these are going NOWHERE. After about 5 or more minutes, we realized their precociousness and somehow shooed them away.

Meanwhile Scarpa had luck finding a woman who was happy to get some $$ for us to stay. "Great" we thought, we'll get a good night's rest before the next long day's journey. Ha ha ha...As we settled in and started making our tsampa black tea followed by tsampa Yak butter tea, the lady of the house decides to eat. In this particular household dish washing was not a habit. In fact to clean her bowls, she simply stuck out her tongue and licked it clean only to be put back on her shelf. " Ahh good thing we brought our own mugs" Steve and I both thought as we gazed at her and then each other. This is going to be interesting.

As the evening progressed visitors arrived. One man in particular stood out as he was large and apparently a few sheets to the wind. The woman of the house brought out the Chang (local firewater made from what else? fermented barley)...Oh man a full out heat on was to occur. They offered Steve a sip and he graciously had one but I knew better. That whole night the already inebriated man morphed into a full on flat out drunken mess. He was yelling and carrying on and the others in tow. At some point, I crept into my sleeping bag doing my best to pretend I wasn't there and hoped they forgot me as well. All I remember was Steve doing the same cuddling up close to me. At some point during the night I heard noises and the drunken man must have left.

The next day we awoke and as fast as possible got back on the road. Steve later confessed to me he had a hard time sleeping as he thought that we were in such a perfect position for the drunken man to have robbed and killed us. No one would have ever known where we were etc.
Wow, that never crossed my mind, but given the facts of the seemingly low level of education and sanitation, as well as interest in what material goods we had this thought wasn't to outrageous. Nonetheless we got out and on our way...

More passes we trekked, and finally we reached the place where Scarpa was to stop and return back to his family in Lamayuru. We were on our own. Steve thought we could find another guide and it should not be a problem. well it wasn't as easy as that.

We had another week left to our destination of Zanskar. We were on a mission to deliver some beautiful 8x10 photographs of the monks of a famous monastery given to us by our friends in Srinagar. Turns out the woman who took the photos was from San Anselmo, CA the same town we had lived before embarking on our India journey. She had been there the year before, took the photos and then sent them back to our friends in Kashmir. It seemed fate that we should deliver them to the monks. "Great" we have an a mission! It is meant to be. what a weird coincidence to have gotten these photos.
We anticipated the delivery and presenting them to the monks. One in particular looked quite elderly and one would assume a wise sage.

In the meantime, we must find another guide.....