Day 5:
Darcha [11,020 ft] - Patseo [12,500 ft] -
ZingZing Bar [14,050 ft] : 34 km [approx.] ...
contd.
As I approach the Army Transit camp of Patseo, find that a high altitude game of cricket is in progress among the faujis.
Stop to click here and watch a bit of the the game; soon an introductory talk soon ensues with the nearest fielderand myself - our conversation language soon turns to Bengali as we discover we incidentally come from the same State of W Bengal; he being a resident of Kharaghpur.
The best of what happens is that he takes me to his barrack, and offers me to take some Gatorade - never expected to have this over here.
Here is Sanjoy, the Army jawan from Kharaghpur, W Bengal. Seen also is an army jawan from Rourkella.
From pesta to cadbury bars to biscuits to bottles of Gatorade. In fact I had refuse any more as this would increase the bicycle gross weight, already having taken some 3 L of Gatorade. This then reminds me of the way army folks gave us fruits and packaged juice at Loma, neary Nyoma, while going towards Fukche and Koyoul of Changthang during our Oct 2010 trip.
A video printscreen shot of Sanjoy at Patseo Army transit camp
After some 20+ mts of a wonderful stop here, and thanking the faujis again, it is time to move on. Another great experience to remember. The transit army camp will stay here for less than month, till the first major snowfall at Baralacha la .
Good tarred road had a few sections were now gravel and stones
Towards Zingzingbar, one could now really feel the oxygen deprived air at this altitude.
Moving forward I see this motorcycle guy standstill; he had passed me by while I was at Patseo.
Again an excuse for a stop and click; he was waiting for his other friends to catch up from the Darcha side.
Through our brief conversation, find out that they are para-gliders, carrying their own equipment! Analyzing the temperature, thermals, weather dynamics they would start paragliding at that particular location - the last they did was near Tandi bridge. A video printscreen of the rider+paraglider.
A bye to him and I move on towards ZZbar. The landscape brilliant. Though the strain is quite heavy in this rarefied air but the gradient still quite manageable
Amazing colours and vistas, River Bagha is a narrow stream at this high altitude.
And then I get the "shot of the trip". Brilliant snow mountains over at the background and a definite stop here. Though have decided to do less of these shelf-shot image antics as quite a bit of time is spent doing all these, but then with a background like this...
And more brilliance takes mind away from the greater and greater fatigue as I progress towards ZZ Bar.
Also see some of the first of the "human faces" seen a plenty at Sarchu
As I progress further, I see Zingzing bar, a road building camp of BRO, and from a distance see a dhaba too. Very happy to see the dhaba and thus do not have to go through the process of pitching the tent. But still I am somewhat confused as did not expect ZZ Bar to come so soon. The strain has been big but it was unlike he way I was expecting it or have known of it.
As I stop over at this dhaba and have talk with the owner, he informs me that this is also ZZ bar but it is "Lower" Zingzing bar. This has me confounded, never have I heard such a thing or do recollect reading anything like this in Ladakh travelogues - A place, which in the best of times [season months] may have around max 50 or so people; has another end of it 7-8 km away, i.e. upper Zingzingbar.
Also came to know the Italian who I met twice in this journey till now, was here last night. Felt somewhat good to think that then I was not doing that bad and was in fact right on correct schedule. The dhaba owner hough advised me that since right now it is 1:30 in the afternoon, I have enough time to reach Upper Zingzingbar and stay over there - a dhaba is still open out there; moreover the best being that tomorrow, on the big Baralachala ride, will have less 7-8 km of high altitude pedalling.
Mountain Knight [Trek 4300 D] at Lower Zingzingbar
All over this Manali-Leh road one comes across entrepreneurs - people who have left their home to set up business over here - providing for much needed shelter and food. They run the business for 5-6 months of the year in this hostile and unpredictable weather and environment, migrating again back again to their home lands as the winter closes all the passes; some employ themselves again and some just while away their time waiting to return back again next season. They are also a kind of adventurists of a different nature.
And this includes this couple too, migrating from Nepal to here in lower ZZB, and in another 5-6 days they will be rounding up the tent and going back to their place. But then a lunch is in the order right now, and hot Maggi and omelets soon follow.
Some 30 mts later and after a great gossip with the owner couple, which included what name they should give to the this dhaba as it is still unnamed and they exclaiming that I have enough of things on my bicycle to start a dhaba [!] , it is time to move on to Upper Zingzingbar.
The fact that there is upper and lower nomenclature of a place, which by itself is so tiny that one could even miss it driving fast, was quite kind of amusing to me. As I start I thought to myself, lets then see what kind of a "happening place" then is Upper ZZB, some 7-8 km away.
All along this 500 km high mountain journey there are some gradients that a cyclist will forever remember. And in that context, a cyclist will ever remember the difference between Upper and Lower of a place called ZingzingBar.
contd..