[sudev]

Just following your narrative and have added a Google Earth view. Kathmandu to Kodrai (Ochre is road and yellow is international border)

[T_Girl]

The picture is indeed beautiul. The place looks really nice and serene.Could we please have more pics??

[gd1418]

Good going Deky. Gripping tale..

[watashi75]

Gripping tale and wonderful pictures! I will defer from posting further until the tale is complete so as not to break your story.

[sanjayatarizona]

Deky, as with your other travalogues, great photography and crisp narratives. Keep up the great job

[deky]

I was surprised to see that I was one of the last ones to get up that day. Not that I claim myself to be an early riser but the previous night I had made a point to get up early and go out and around and enjoy the beautifull sights. I must have slept really peacefully.

ONE OF THE ROOMS IN THE HOTEL, EACH ROOM HAD 8 BEDS


RELAXING, IN THE BACK YOU CAN SEE THE SHERPAS


I realized that most of the others were not that lucky. AMS had started hitting them hard and few could not sleep through out the night due to head aches and the rest had been vomiting. After all we had ascended from 1200mtrs to 3750mtrs within few hours the previous day.

Luckily Mom and I were fine and the little headache we had the previous night had also gone. Was it the affect of AVVA (same as diamox) or was it just travel fatigue that had gone. Well we didn't want to take a chance and continued our twice daily doze of half a tablet of AVVA.

Our Tibetien guide had also come and met the ailing. His word of advise was "dont be lazy, dont be lazy, get up and take small walks" . He had also categorically added that the situation would be studied again later in the evening and those who did not show any improvement, the only option would be to go back to Zhang Mu and end the trip.

For me toilet issuses were posing bigger problems than lack of oxygen issues. Not that I am very finicky about toilets and was open to all types before I started the trip but this was beyond any of my imaginations. The toilets were basically 3 elevated holes side by side with a common roof and separated by 3 feet wall. The stench was unimaginable, and one had to be resilient to use them and I dont know how, but I did. The tour manager had a piece of comforting news about the toilets "....sir, dont worry from just use them once again tomorrow and then on things will be better....how better?? well...u will be using open air...nice..atleast the stink wont be there"

The town was quite boring actually. I tried conversing with a few locals but was shunned away quite unceremoniously as I didn't know Chinese or Tibetese. So i decided to stick with "Tashi Delek" or "Ni Hao" (both are greetings) with the locals if I had too.

SLEEPY TOWN OF NAYALAM


THE TRUCK THAT CARRIED KITCHEN STUFF, GROCERY, BAGS, TENTS, SLEEPING BAGS ETC ETC PARKED IN FRONT OF THE WAYSIDE HOTEL


Met a few groups of yatris who were returning from the trip To Kailash, apart from hearing their stories some of them also added the fatalities in their group or in the other group while the parikrama. Getting paranoid I decided not to go into details with them on the trip. Hence after about 30 mnts in the town I had nothing to do.

Thats when I met Amit and we decided to walk out of the town and enjoy the natural beauty.

The early cloud cover over the mountains had started lifting and deep blue sky was now visible. This colour of the sky is only visible at high altitude...so clean so pure. As the sun started to shine the temperature was also getting to be quite bearable.

Also we could see one snow covered peak at a distance and was later told was part of the Gui mountains.

THE ONLY SNOW CAPPED PEAK VISIBLE FROM THERE


The topography had changed from green, tree covered mountains to barren rocky and rugged mountains. There was some greenery around but mostly rocky.

ROCKY, BARREN AND RUGGED


We crossed a fast flowing stream and exited the town and came to an absolutely smooth tar road. We were there for about an hour on the Road and only one or two vehicles used the road. So the question, why such a nice road for such less traffic??

THE FAST FLOWING STREAM


Well the road is part of the bigger picture. The picture is to link Beijing to Lhasa (friendship highway) then along the border to Karakorum in Pakistan reviving the old silk route. Also since it will be border road, good roads will mean faster movement of defence personnel in case of a war.

THE SMOOTH ROAD


As we walked ahead on the road we came to a hydel water project on the river. Later we came to know hydel water projects were quite common here and apart from solar energy this was another way of producing energy for the villages.

HYDEL WATER PROJECT


It was approaching afternoon and was getting to be more and more windy. Not to exert ourselves more we decided to come back have lunch and relax.

ME WITH NAYALAM TOWN AT A DISTANCE


After a siesta Mom and I took another aimless walk in the town and returned. Bhajan Kirtans had started in one of the rooms in the evening. Well atleast it was a good sign that most of the folks had recovered from AMS and were getting used to the surroundings. Evening dinner was served. We got a diet of Soup, some vegetable, rice and dal. Soups were turning out to be the highlights of the meals.

Tomorrow would be an early start and we would be procceding to the town of Saga (4500mtrs)

[deky]

Health is the biggest deciding factor that will undermine if you are able to complete this trip successfully or not.

If my Mom, who has been suffering from asthma for a long long time can do the trip then I guess its possible for most of us.

The biggest challenge posed to the body here is the lack of oxygen or in other words AMS. To be able to adjust to the rare atmosphere as quickly as possible is the key.

Here are a few things that I did to help in speeding up the acclimatisation process faster. I started the following about 30 days before the trip started.

1. reduced smoking (wanted to stop but couldn't do it )
2. reduced intake of tea and coffee.
3. started cycling to my office in the evenings, covered a distance of 12 kms to and fro.
4. started the gym in the morning, mostly cardio exercises like tread mill on incline, cycling, stepper etc.

Apart from this following also helps

1. yoga, specially pranayama/ deep breathing
2. climbing steps
3. eating green leafy vegetables for increasing hemoglobin in the blood.
4. try to control your emotions, in high altitude the BP anyways is on the higher side, hypertension can be near fatal.

Getting your medicals done at a reputed institute is also a good idea. Not that the medical certificate is important for this trip via Kathmandu, its just that one should be aware of ones short comings.

You would be surprised to know that our medical certificate was not even checked once in China. Its absolutely true as someone mentioned in my preparation thread for this trip that "Chinese dont care whether you live or die there". So its totally up to you how you survive there.

Our medical test included:-
1. Tread Mill test
2. Pulmonary function test
3. Full blood profile (rbc, hbc, hb, etc etc)
4. urine test (diabetes, sugar, fasting sugar)
5. Chest Xray
6. blood pressure and hypertension

I would suggest that once you or your doctor is satisfied with the results then only go ahead and pay the money.

Believe me the fatality rate (due to the combination of height or nill medical fascilities) is pretty high out there, and there is no reason ABSOLUTELY NO REASON, RELIGIOUS OR OTHERS TO RISK ONES LIFE FOR THE SAME

Getting a travel insurance done is also a must, a small price you pay now for medical emergencies later. Airlifting a passenger might me the only option left in most cases.

I also heard that seeing the number of deaths, since this year China has stopped issuing Visa to people born in 1940 or before. Its unconfirmed so might have to be verified.

Its also very essential to be carrying the right types of medicine for this trip. You might find a drug store in a few towns, but since all medicines are labelled in Chinese, getting the right medicine maybe a problem.

The sherpas do carry a medicine bag with them but better carry yours urself, they dont take much space anyways. Always make a seperate first aid kit for medicines. Its easy to locate by someone else if you not in a position that time to look for them. Also its a good idea to write down on a piece of paper about the list of medicines you carrying and when to use them. High altitude have funny affects on thinking too. (Once someone took loose motion tablets instead of travel sickness tablets)

List of medicines I think are essential
1. Any prescribed drug you might be taking on a regular basis
2. paracetamol tablets
3. common cold and cough tablets
4. muscle relaxant tablets eg brufen
5. muscle balms and crape bandage, eg. tiger balm
6. acetazolamide tablets eg Diamox or AVVA
7. travelsickness tablets eg. avomine if you cant take winding roads
8. tablets for tummy bugs eg zenflox oz
10. For indigestion/ vomiting/ diohrrea eg.Digene/ domstol
9. vicks vaporub
10. vaseline, its very very very very very dry out there, also you could apply it in the nostrils or else your nose would start bleeding soon
11. sun screen spf 50 atleast, start applying from day one
12. good breathing face mask. Even if there is no swine flu you will need them since its very dusty
13. Electral packets- for fluid replacement
14. knee cap- if you plan to do Kailash Parikrama
15. bandaid strips
16. hand sanitisers

Also it might be helpfull to arrange with the chemist before hand that if the medicines not used will be returned. Just a suggestion!!!

[MileCruncher]

Your post is quite intensive and very informative. Will use these to prepare myself for Ladakh.

[deky]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Your post is quite intensive and very informative. Will use these to prepare myself for Ladakh.

Thank you, will be glad if this thread is helpfull in anyways to anybody from the forum.

I thought of comparing Ladakh to Tibet at the end of this thread.

Regards

[cnaganathan]

Amazing post. Waiting for the rest of your travelogue - a 5 star post in the making.

I was wondering if there was an alternative to the Kailash trek and you have given me the answer.

[tsk1979]

Great log waiting for more!!
Regarding Ipubrufen, I think Asthamatics cannot take this painkiller, so Nimulsulide is recommended. Any docs please correct me if I'n wrong

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Great log waiting for more!!
Regarding Ipubrufen, I think Asthamatics cannot take this painkiller, so Nimulsulide is recommended. Any docs please correct me if I'n wrong

AFAIK it is because of the sulphur content in ibuprufen/ combiflam/Brufen

[deky]

Thanks cnaganathan, tsk1979

Also I forgot to add, people might want to check before they start taking acetazolamides that if they allergic to sulpha drugs or not.

Best to be done before you start the trip.

[phamilyman]

Awesome triplog.

Lovely pics of the roads - I have felt a deep sense of shame as an Indian when I saw the kind of highways made by China at Nathu La. Or when you sit down with Indian soldiers at Kargil and hear their stories.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by deky

For me toilet issuses were posing bigger problems than lack of oxygen issues. Not that I am very finicky about toilets and was open to all types before I started the trip but this was beyond any of my imaginations. The toilets were basically 3 elevated holes side by side with a common roof and separated by 3 feet wall. The stench was unimaginable, and one had to be resilient to use them and I dont know how, but I did. The tour manager had a piece of comforting news about the toilets "....sir, dont worry from just use them once again tomorrow and then on things will be better....how better?? well...u will be using open air...nice..atleast the stink wont be there"

I have heard about the toilets being unbearable in those areas but I have also heard of the local town dwellers renting out their comparatively cleaner ones on a pay and use basis. You could probably try to inquire about them if time permits or you feel the need.
And please accept my congratulations for such a wonderful travelouge and pictures...