We all get down with oxygen deficiency, and find shelter in an unknown tablet
To be clear, this 'unknown' tablet, was as yet unknown only to me... Most of the mountaineers know about it.
When we booked cab in delhi, we had no idea that we would experience a trial take-off dash before getting into an actual plane. I swear to god, we hadnt told that cab driver that we need to reach the airport in shortest possible time. But we also forgot to tell him that we need to reach in minimal possible 'incidences' Anyway, we left in the cab; and believe me, it took about half an hour to travel that 22 km. That half an hour was enough to put us in wide-awake state for next 2 hrs.
We reached Delhi airport, and to my surprise, the guard didnt let us in... He said it was closed till 12AM. So we stayed out for about 15 mins. After what seemed like another half an hour (different than the previous half hour); we entered the airport. Thinking of checking in, and relaxing; went to the check-in counter. Alas...even that was closed. Two of my friends spread a bedsheet on the floor itself and slept off. One of friend, doubting over the strength of his digestive system, hadn't eaten in the roadside restaurant (well, big word for that place). He had some sandwich and coffee at airport, and had to feel full with that.
At 1, the check-in counter opened. As expected, we were first in the line, and first ones to check in. First mistake, we got all seats in one row. Well...we didnt realize this until we got into flight. After check in we thought we would do security check, and go in to sleep on more luxurious seats. We went in, saw those long seats usually you see on beaches, decorated by beautiful girls on it. I dont exactly know the name of it, but i remember it. We caught six of those, spread out on it. That was second mistake. The area where those seats were, was virtually unoccupied, except for 2-3 who were in stalls. Hence, too cold to occupy. We didnt feel the chill, till we settled in those chairs. Me, i slept off easily. But my other trip mates didnt do well. There was a TV in front of us, which had some weird 'Power Prash' advertisement going on continuously. This added on to their dismay.
Finally, our 4 hour wait came to an end. We boarded the flight. I, putting forward the reason of having camera got the window seat. Well, unluckily, got a wrong window. The sunset was visible from other side of flight. After about an hour of flight, captain announced that we are flying over himalayas and Rohtang Pass. This is where we realized our mistake of not taking all window seats. As soon as captain had the above announcement, almost all the passengers left their seats over to the window to get a peekaboo at the grand creation of the nature. For few seconds after that, i was just able to hear clicks of cam and gasps at the view.
After few ice laced himalayan peaks and few barren peaks we had an awesome view of the Leh city. A lush green patch right in the center of the barren lands - courtesy Indus river! From within the greenery, rose a long line of asphalt. That Single line of tar visible from way above made us realize that the aerial journey was about to end. Everyone went back to their seats. Then a surprise came in. The plane didnt just land on the run way, it encircled the mountain just behind it; then aligned it to runway and touched down. We just barely got time to appreciate excellent maneuver by the pilot, and we were stunned by the sheer simplicity of the small Leh airport on the backdrop of the magnificent mountains, clear blue sky and pure white clouds.
We came out of airport, booked a pre-paid taxi. We told the driver, Tashi, to take us to a Guest house. He did so, and to our pleasant surprise; this guest house changed whole definition of 'a Guest house' i had in mind coz of Delhi experience. In fact i felt many of the good hotels would lack the cleanliness and hospitality we received here. We kept all our luggage in the rooms allotted to us. By this time almost 2 hours had passed away after getting down at airport. Whatever reserved oxygen we had in us was used up, and we started feeling oxygen deficiency; more commonly known as altitude sickness. We were sitting idly and talking. My personal experience was difficulty in talking. Tongue became heavy, it was difficult to pronounce the words. God Promise, we weren't drunk!
This is when one of us took out from his bag, a tablet 'Diamox', scientifically known as Acetazolamide (courtesy Wiki). Each of us took in one tablet, and not liking this feeling drunk without being drinking state, slept off.
When i got up after about 2 hours, i was feeling fine. Except one of us, who kept on sleeping, all of us were feeling fine. We all termed Diamox as savior and went out of guest house into the garden. Sat there gazing at the nature, playing cards, waiting for the last guy to get up and get ready.
After he woke up, we left for the monuments in Leh city-Leh palace and Shanti Stupa. First, at Leh palace, which was right at the top of a mountain overlooking Leh city. The structure wasnt any special. Looked almost like those made by LKG-SKG kids by putting cubes together. We found out what special was, after we got onto the palace. (Onto = terrace...) A panoramic view of whole Leh city..right in the center of mountains..sun planning to disappear behind the mountain..clouds closing in onto the setting sun... Just perfect scene! But unfortunately we had to wrap up and leave for next point. Our driver told we need to go back before dark.
After about half an hour's drive we reached Shanti stupa. As the name tells, it was complete silence there. Only sound was that of the whispers of travelers and sound of the wind. A nice big statue of Buddha stood at the center of the wall in front of entrance. The circular wall was covered with pictures and some letters (chinese/buddhist/ladakhi). After taking a round around the stupa, we got down the stairs. Just before leaving, i just turned and gasped. Whole thing was lighted up. It was looking pretty on the onset of the setting sun's darkness..
Just out of Stupa, there is a cafe. We went there, had Lemon tea/Ginger lemon honey tea etc etc. From there we came back to pavilion and had delicious dinner made in the guest house next door. Went back to bed while thinking of altogether how many mountains i saw today. They say counting sheeps helps you to sleep. In my case, it was mountains that helped me... :D
To be clear, this 'unknown' tablet, was as yet unknown only to me... Most of the mountaineers know about it.
When we booked cab in delhi, we had no idea that we would experience a trial take-off dash before getting into an actual plane. I swear to god, we hadnt told that cab driver that we need to reach the airport in shortest possible time. But we also forgot to tell him that we need to reach in minimal possible 'incidences' Anyway, we left in the cab; and believe me, it took about half an hour to travel that 22 km. That half an hour was enough to put us in wide-awake state for next 2 hrs.
We reached Delhi airport, and to my surprise, the guard didnt let us in... He said it was closed till 12AM. So we stayed out for about 15 mins. After what seemed like another half an hour (different than the previous half hour); we entered the airport. Thinking of checking in, and relaxing; went to the check-in counter. Alas...even that was closed. Two of my friends spread a bedsheet on the floor itself and slept off. One of friend, doubting over the strength of his digestive system, hadn't eaten in the roadside restaurant (well, big word for that place). He had some sandwich and coffee at airport, and had to feel full with that.
At 1, the check-in counter opened. As expected, we were first in the line, and first ones to check in. First mistake, we got all seats in one row. Well...we didnt realize this until we got into flight. After check in we thought we would do security check, and go in to sleep on more luxurious seats. We went in, saw those long seats usually you see on beaches, decorated by beautiful girls on it. I dont exactly know the name of it, but i remember it. We caught six of those, spread out on it. That was second mistake. The area where those seats were, was virtually unoccupied, except for 2-3 who were in stalls. Hence, too cold to occupy. We didnt feel the chill, till we settled in those chairs. Me, i slept off easily. But my other trip mates didnt do well. There was a TV in front of us, which had some weird 'Power Prash' advertisement going on continuously. This added on to their dismay.
Finally, our 4 hour wait came to an end. We boarded the flight. I, putting forward the reason of having camera got the window seat. Well, unluckily, got a wrong window. The sunset was visible from other side of flight. After about an hour of flight, captain announced that we are flying over himalayas and Rohtang Pass. This is where we realized our mistake of not taking all window seats. As soon as captain had the above announcement, almost all the passengers left their seats over to the window to get a peekaboo at the grand creation of the nature. For few seconds after that, i was just able to hear clicks of cam and gasps at the view.
After few ice laced himalayan peaks and few barren peaks we had an awesome view of the Leh city. A lush green patch right in the center of the barren lands - courtesy Indus river! From within the greenery, rose a long line of asphalt. That Single line of tar visible from way above made us realize that the aerial journey was about to end. Everyone went back to their seats. Then a surprise came in. The plane didnt just land on the run way, it encircled the mountain just behind it; then aligned it to runway and touched down. We just barely got time to appreciate excellent maneuver by the pilot, and we were stunned by the sheer simplicity of the small Leh airport on the backdrop of the magnificent mountains, clear blue sky and pure white clouds.
We came out of airport, booked a pre-paid taxi. We told the driver, Tashi, to take us to a Guest house. He did so, and to our pleasant surprise; this guest house changed whole definition of 'a Guest house' i had in mind coz of Delhi experience. In fact i felt many of the good hotels would lack the cleanliness and hospitality we received here. We kept all our luggage in the rooms allotted to us. By this time almost 2 hours had passed away after getting down at airport. Whatever reserved oxygen we had in us was used up, and we started feeling oxygen deficiency; more commonly known as altitude sickness. We were sitting idly and talking. My personal experience was difficulty in talking. Tongue became heavy, it was difficult to pronounce the words. God Promise, we weren't drunk!
This is when one of us took out from his bag, a tablet 'Diamox', scientifically known as Acetazolamide (courtesy Wiki). Each of us took in one tablet, and not liking this feeling drunk without being drinking state, slept off.
When i got up after about 2 hours, i was feeling fine. Except one of us, who kept on sleeping, all of us were feeling fine. We all termed Diamox as savior and went out of guest house into the garden. Sat there gazing at the nature, playing cards, waiting for the last guy to get up and get ready.
After he woke up, we left for the monuments in Leh city-Leh palace and Shanti Stupa. First, at Leh palace, which was right at the top of a mountain overlooking Leh city. The structure wasnt any special. Looked almost like those made by LKG-SKG kids by putting cubes together. We found out what special was, after we got onto the palace. (Onto = terrace...) A panoramic view of whole Leh city..right in the center of mountains..sun planning to disappear behind the mountain..clouds closing in onto the setting sun... Just perfect scene! But unfortunately we had to wrap up and leave for next point. Our driver told we need to go back before dark.
After about half an hour's drive we reached Shanti stupa. As the name tells, it was complete silence there. Only sound was that of the whispers of travelers and sound of the wind. A nice big statue of Buddha stood at the center of the wall in front of entrance. The circular wall was covered with pictures and some letters (chinese/buddhist/ladakhi). After taking a round around the stupa, we got down the stairs. Just before leaving, i just turned and gasped. Whole thing was lighted up. It was looking pretty on the onset of the setting sun's darkness..
Just out of Stupa, there is a cafe. We went there, had Lemon tea/Ginger lemon honey tea etc etc. From there we came back to pavilion and had delicious dinner made in the guest house next door. Went back to bed while thinking of altogether how many mountains i saw today. They say counting sheeps helps you to sleep. In my case, it was mountains that helped me... :D
Man you remember somuch abt every small thing best part was the flight seat selection, can't stop laughing... But it gave me a leason to remember...
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