Markha Valley

We hired a local taxi from Leh. We struck a deal with the driver that he would
drop us off till where it was possible to go with the taxi. Because of the snow
many of the roads become inaccessible. We planned to go to Skiu village. We
visited the Pathar Sahib Gurudwara in Leh and I believe this shrine a lot, that’s
the reason why I always make it a point to visit the shrine before I leave for
any of my treks in Leh. It was around afternoon when we reached the
gurudwara, we had the prasad at the langar and left for our trek.

There was heavy snowfall in the morning that day and the roads were filled
with snow. The taxi in which we were travelling, was sliding on the road
because of the snow. With this we understood that our journey is definitely
going to be adventurous. The driver dropped us at a place that was around
3kms after Chilling as taxi couldn’t go any further because of the snow. It was
even by that time, the weather was quite clear and the temperature was
around -15.

Before the suns sets we needed to find an accommodation for the night.
Walking along we came across a village with around 4-5 houses. Most of
them were locked. However, one of them had an elderly gentleman living
with his wife. We greeted him “Julley”, which is the traditional greeting in
Ladakhi culture. We requested him if we could spend the night at his place
and then we will leave tomorrow morning. He was hesitant to give us to stay
at his house. So, we left from there to find another place to stay. It was
getting dark outside as the sun sets early in the winters and the temperature
stars to drop. We moved ahead to the next homestay.

We approached house, there was woman who lived
with her daughter. We requested them to let us stay
for the night and provide us with some food. They
agreed to let us spend the night at their house. The
lady served us piping hot tea and some biscuits, she
understood how desperately we need this hot cup of
tea in the chilling cold. They had a cute little puppy
by the name Misty. He was very energetic and kept
us all entertained.

Every house in Ladakh has a ‘Bukhari’, the firewood that is
used to provide warmth as well as for cooking. It is always a
good idea of sitting and having a conversation with the
locals. As we get a first-hand information about their culture,
the place and their day to day life activities. And we did not
want to miss this opportunity so, we sat her in the kitchen.
After having dinner and good conversation with her, we went
to the room to sleep. Getting away from the fire made us
feel the chills once again. The lady provided us with some
thick blankets to keep us warm. The minute we lied down on
our beds we felt as though we were sleeping on an ice-berg.
That night the temperature was around -24.

I woke up early the next morning and went to the roof top with my GoPro. I
wanted to a few pictures & Video of the beauty of that place. My hands got
numb because of the cold and I could not take many pictures. I rushed down
to the kitchen to keep myself warm. After sitting around the fire for a while I
was feeling a little better. The lady also gave me some warm tea and I was
absolutely fine then. By this time, my friends also woke up and came to the
kitchen area. We then began discussing the route for the day. On overhearing
our conversation, the lady told us that we are at Kaya village and not at Skiu
village. Skiu village was about 2kms ahead. The lady was really helpful in
every way. We had hardly met her a couple of hours ago, but she did not
make us feel like outsiders. She treated us like her own. While we were
leaving, she packed some lunch for us to have on our journey. Initially we did
not take it, but she insisted to take it so, we accepted it. This is the beauty of
the locals who live in the mountains. The warmth in their hospitality is
something you will not find elsewhere.We told her that on our way back we
will come and spend a day with her. She was glad to hear that.

Slowly we started walking ahead in the freeing cold. The sun had come up
and our body was getting warm as we walked so we were able to survive the
cold. It was just the three of us walking along the road, not a single human
being nor a village was in sight.

After very long we seen an old lady with an
aged woman walking towards us. When
they reached us we greeted them ‘Julley’,
they were pleased on hearing the greeting
and we had a small conversation with them.
They told us that this was Thilassappa
village. They told us to wait at a certain
lady’s house. A little away form her house is
a hot water spring. And asked us to visit it
as it is considered as a holy place and the
water is used for medicinal purposes. We
decided to definitely visit the place.

Before reaching Sara, we were so hungry that we opened the packet food
and relished it. There is no comparison to the delicious food and her
hospitality. We sat by the Markh river which was half frozen and partially
flowing. This experience made us feel as though we were in heaven. We
then began walking. We reached Sara village, there were just two houses
there. And only one house had some people living in it. The other house
was locked. We went to that house and requested them to let us stay at
their house for the night. They agreed so we stayed back at their place.
And we double confirmed with them that this village was Sara. We
roamed around the village for some time. We surprised to see that village
was solar electricity. So, after 6pm the lights came on their own, they
even watched the famous daily soaps. I was a little shocked, but I was
happy that they are just like us. We had lovely food and then slept off.

Woke up early in the morning when it became a little bright. But it was freezing cold around -25. I am very interested in wildlife and one of the reasons of doing this trek was because Markha region falls in the Hemis National park. The wild animals move a lot in the night. And that’s one of the reasons I woke up in the morning so that I could get a glimpse of the something. I went walking towards the Markha river in that hope. However, I could not wait for more than half an hour as my body started to get numb. So, I returned to the house. On returning home, I came and sat in the kitchen where I was served hot tea. And this hot cup of tea made my day in that chilling weather.

After having breakfast, we set out on our days’ journey. The trek is not very challenging though. There are just a few small ups and downs that along the path. The frozen wind, the half- frozen river flowing by the side, and the snow-clad mountains all this mesmerized us so much that we forgot that we the three of us were together. I was continuously looking around as though I lost something but no, I was in the hope that somewhere I may get a glimpse of some wildlife. After walking for a while, we reached a point where we got a perfect view of the Markha valley. It was so beautiful that we sat there for some time to admire the beauty of nature. We met a lady over there she told us that her house is in the markha valley so, she insisted that we spend the night at her place. She directed us to her house and told us that her elder sister is at home. She was going down-hill for some work and she will come back home in by evening.

So, we start our trek toward Hankar after breakfast. I seen a Red Fox yesterday, so I was in the hope of seeing the snow leopard and other animals. With that in mind I was continuously on the look out for it. It was a very windy day, this was making it very difficult for us as we were feeling very cold. We walked on patches of the frozen river, we relived the Chadar experience. After almost 2 hours we reached the Umling village, and most of the houses were closed. Only two houses were open. They were on the top so; we decided to rest for some time before we climb up. From there we could see ‘Mt.Kangyatse’ this lifted our spirts and our confidence. We wanted to take a closer look at it. By afternoon we reached Hankar village. We rested at a home stay and had lunch.

We rested at a home stay and had lunch. After resting we thought of going ahead and to take a closer look at Mt.Kangyatse. We reached a point from where we could clearly see Mt.Kangyatse I & II.

We sat and marveled at its beauty, took some pictures, roamed around the village and then we came back to our home stay. Because of the proximity to the glacier, the temperature during the day was around -25. We went home and sat around the kitchen fire from some warmth. We also spent time with the kids. We had dinner and went off to sleep. That night was very chilling. It would have been some where around -35. This was our last point of the trek. Tomorrow onwards we were going to start our journey back. The experience so far was really great.

The night was really freezing cold. I was literally waiting for the sun to rise and the temperature to increase. We woke up and had breakfast. Once the sun was out and a little bright, we left to go to Thilassppa. We had already promised the lady at Thilassppa that

we will be spending the night at her house so, we planned to reach Thilassppa and stay there for the night. My friends were almost running towards Thilassppa as though they were a part of some race.

However, I was not keen on doing so. My main focus was to see if I could see any wildlife around. I was confident that surely and my believe. I will see some wildlife. The distance between my friends and me had increased a lot but I could still see them because the view of the river and valley were open. As I walked along,I was spotted 3 ‘Blue Sheep’. I signaled my friends that I spotted something however, as they were quite far, they did not understand what I was saying. The Blue Sheep understood my movement and they ran into the bushes. I was again unable to click a picture despite having my camera with me. Anyways, I was happy that I got to see it. I also spotted the paw prints of the Snow Leopard. I did not see the snow leopard, but I got to see the paw prints, I was quite satisfied.

Now the distance between me and my friends had increased a lot, I could not see them anywhere. I was in my own world walking around looking if I could spot anything. Then i reached Thilassppa. We had lunch, and rested at the lady’s house.

The lady mentioned about a hot water spring so, we asked her to take us to that place. It was around 3km away from this home stay. It was really beautiful; it was in a different valley altogether. At some points it was very narrow and some places it was broad.

Today was going to be a long day to travel. So, we left early that morning. We were so attached with the lady that we were feeling so bad to leave her. We told her that we will surely visit her house the next time we came. We had to cover almost 20kms today. We were walking fast as we had to cover a great distance. We were recollecting the memories of the trek and we were also feeling sad as the trek was coming to an end. We knew we were taking with us memories of the mountains, the valleys, the frozen river, the chilling cold, the time spent with all the locals. We reached Kaya,

we stayed at the same lady’s house where we stayed when while going on the trek.She was very happy to see us again. And surprisingly the puppy, Misty also recognized us. He was very playful with us. This was our last day of the trek so, we decided to make special dinner that night. I cooked egg curry that day. I prepared a spicy egg curry and it turned out to be really very delicious. We sat and spoke around the fire for some time and then went off to sleep.

Today we had to get back to Leh, we had to walk to up to Chilling and make arrangements for a vehicle back to Leh. We walked till Chilling and waited there for some time to find a vehicle. We could not get any vehicle so, we started walking towards the main road. A little further, we got an empty vehicle he was going to Leh so, we hopped in and asked him to drop us off at Leh.