Saturday, August 25, 2012

Day 4 - Keylong to Leh (6th Aug 12)

We woke up at around 4am, as we got ready to depart at 4.30am (pre-dawn), as the overland journey to Leh would take around 14 hours. I was the first person to walk towards the vehicle, which was parked outside the guesthouse and it was very dark. I took a few step back as I wanted to open the door and I fell into something and kept going down. I had no idea what I fell into, as I was falling in total darkness. It happened too fast and I asked myself when was it going to stop. 

The driver heard my shouting and came down to help me. I fell into a staircase. Fortunately, I was carrying my bag and wore thick clothing which cushioned some of the impact. I had wounds and bruises on my hands, shoulder, knee, thigh and my head. Fortunately, all these are minor injuries (I could not open my mouth fully for the next few days and different parts of my body still hurts), and I did not have fractures or major bleeding.

In fact, as I am writing this entry (more than 3 weeks after the incident, my finger and knee still hurts).

PZ was saying that it was "fortunate" that I was the person falling into the stairs, as it could be anybody. I agree with her, and if any of the gals fell into the stairs, the injury could be much worse than mine.

Beautiful Sunrise


Beautiful Reflection

We had fun with sequence shots again. Haha...



Love the Blue Sky and its vastness

Working in the city, I really miss the view of vast blue sky.


Beautiful strips....

More sequence shots



On the road


Hot breakfast in the middle of the cold mountain.

Happiness!
(Taken by XF)



Turquoise Lake


Barren Landscape


Plain



Dessert


The winding road up the mountain


Cyclist!!! 

I always respect these cyclists trying to cycle through these tough terrain over 5000m. I found my 2 days overland trip to be tiring (and I was traveling in the comfort of a vehicle). These cyclists got to face extreme weather conditions (freezing morning, hot afternoon), strong sun, lack of water & civilization, altitude sickness, sleeping in tentage, and finally, the long winding & punishing road of the highland. 
Respect!

On the road (Taken by XF)

Beautiful Scenery
(Taken by Ying)

(Taken by Ying)




Interesting rock formation


More interesting rock formation


Using a bit of imagination, it looks like a group of celestial beings, standing proudly on the hill overlooking the mountain ranges.


More interesting rock formation.

Abandoned Vehicle
(Taken by XF)



Taglang Pass @ 5,328m

"Taglang La, elevation 5,328 metres (17,480 ft), is a high mountain pass located in Ladakh region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The elevation in metres, which is taken from a local sign, is in agreement with SRTM data. The sign incorrectly claims 17582 feet, which would be 5359 metres, and incorrectly claims the world’s second highest motorable pass. It is reached via 21 Gata loops along the Leh-Manali Highway.
There are higher motorable passes at Kaksang La, Chang La, Khardung La and several more locations in Tibet."


View from the pass


Punctured Tyre at 5000m.

Fortunately, there were some road construction workers who helped us to change the tyre. We tipped them for their help.

At this elevation and point of time, quite a number of us were suffering from altitude sickness. PY was so feeling so sick that she was really quiet and stayed in the car the whole time. Ying had vomitted quite a few times already. The others were having mild headaches and breathlessness. Our resting heartbeat was at a high of 90-100 counts/minute.


Jagged red mountain.
Interesting.

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