Day 6: River Rafting again!
A shortened trip to the Pangong had meant we had an extra day. We could either have spent this day doing some local sight seeing or could have added one more place to our itinerary. Sikander, now acting as a sort of trip advisor to us - gave us some ideas. We could have hired cycles, and do some cycling. The other idea he gave us was River Rafting in the Zanskar. We were all tired after the long to and fro journey of Pangong, and did not want to travel the next day. So, we finally zeroed in on River Rafting. A deal was stuck with him. He gave us pa package where the car will pick us from our guest house, take us to the start point of the Rafting, then Lunch when the rafting is finished and finally drop us off back at our guest house.
Since, we were not going any place far today - we woke up leisurely at around 7:30 - 8 AM for a change. Had our breakfast at the Guest house and waited for the Rafting guy to pick us up. Finally a Traveller was there to pick us up. All of us packed ourselves into the traveller. But, there was one small problem. The traveller already had a few foreigners in it, and with the 6 of us moving in - we were one person too many than the seats in the traveller. As per the driver it was approx. 1 hour journey to the start point of the rafting. There was no question of travelling standing all this distance. Then, a person from the other group volunteered to sit on the engine bay of the bus, because as per him they were a person extra. So, we finally started from our Guest house towards the start point of our Rafting - Chilling!
Apart from some extremely narrow and broken roads at some places, the journey from Leh to Chilling was pretty unadventurous. We were at the river side all along - seeing all the rapids which we will be convering en route. Our Rafting was supposed to start at Chilling at and end near Nimmu. It was approx. a 30 Km distance and would have taken us around 2 hours to cover the complete distance. After a relatively boring drive till the start point, we were finally at Chilling. We were given our Rafting suits. All of us, except Bhavna had done rafting before, and it was at Rishikesh. Up till now, the only difference I experienced was that we were given proper rafting suits here in Ladakh unlike Rishikesh, where Life Jackets and helmets were the only protective gear we had.
While coming here, we had noticed that the rapids in the Zanskar river seemed more dangerous than the ones we experienced in Rishikesh. The water in the river was obviously much colder too, so the full body suits made more sense here. Without them perhaps we would have gone numb from head to toe. The session began with the usual briefing by the instructor. He explained to us the Dos and Don’ts. After the briefing session, we were divided into two groups. Our group had 8 members + the Instructor. We were joined by a couple from Europe. The lady was French, and the guy German! And, they conversed with each other in Portugal! They had apparently met in Brazil, and used Portugal as the common language for conversation. And, off we went into the river!
The next 2-3 hours were spent rafting, the views as usual were breathtaking all along the 30 Km route.To be honest the rapids in Rishikesh were much better than the ones we experienced here. There were just about 2-3 big rapids which we experienced, in one of which I fell off the raft into the river head first - and that single fall made all the money spent worth it.
After the rafting was finished, we were taken to the camp of the raft operator, where we had a sumptuous lunch.
A nice little structure made of beer bottles :p
Tired, dirty and tanned we were finally at our guest house around 6 PM. After having a much needed bath, we roamed a little and slept early after dinner. Tomorrow, we leave for Nubra Valley via Khardung La. This would be a two day trip, with a night stay at Hunder. Sikander, the local taxi operator came to the guest house and we fixed a cab for morning. It would not be a early start tomorrow, as we didn't have to return by the night.
Next - Nubra Valley - and the night in Hunder at Habib's guest house.
Since, we were not going any place far today - we woke up leisurely at around 7:30 - 8 AM for a change. Had our breakfast at the Guest house and waited for the Rafting guy to pick us up. Finally a Traveller was there to pick us up. All of us packed ourselves into the traveller. But, there was one small problem. The traveller already had a few foreigners in it, and with the 6 of us moving in - we were one person too many than the seats in the traveller. As per the driver it was approx. 1 hour journey to the start point of the rafting. There was no question of travelling standing all this distance. Then, a person from the other group volunteered to sit on the engine bay of the bus, because as per him they were a person extra. So, we finally started from our Guest house towards the start point of our Rafting - Chilling!
Apart from some extremely narrow and broken roads at some places, the journey from Leh to Chilling was pretty unadventurous. We were at the river side all along - seeing all the rapids which we will be convering en route. Our Rafting was supposed to start at Chilling at and end near Nimmu. It was approx. a 30 Km distance and would have taken us around 2 hours to cover the complete distance. After a relatively boring drive till the start point, we were finally at Chilling. We were given our Rafting suits. All of us, except Bhavna had done rafting before, and it was at Rishikesh. Up till now, the only difference I experienced was that we were given proper rafting suits here in Ladakh unlike Rishikesh, where Life Jackets and helmets were the only protective gear we had.
While coming here, we had noticed that the rapids in the Zanskar river seemed more dangerous than the ones we experienced in Rishikesh. The water in the river was obviously much colder too, so the full body suits made more sense here. Without them perhaps we would have gone numb from head to toe. The session began with the usual briefing by the instructor. He explained to us the Dos and Don’ts. After the briefing session, we were divided into two groups. Our group had 8 members + the Instructor. We were joined by a couple from Europe. The lady was French, and the guy German! And, they conversed with each other in Portugal! They had apparently met in Brazil, and used Portugal as the common language for conversation. And, off we went into the river!
The next 2-3 hours were spent rafting, the views as usual were breathtaking all along the 30 Km route.To be honest the rapids in Rishikesh were much better than the ones we experienced here. There were just about 2-3 big rapids which we experienced, in one of which I fell off the raft into the river head first - and that single fall made all the money spent worth it.
After the rafting was finished, we were taken to the camp of the raft operator, where we had a sumptuous lunch.
A nice little structure made of beer bottles :p
Tired, dirty and tanned we were finally at our guest house around 6 PM. After having a much needed bath, we roamed a little and slept early after dinner. Tomorrow, we leave for Nubra Valley via Khardung La. This would be a two day trip, with a night stay at Hunder. Sikander, the local taxi operator came to the guest house and we fixed a cab for morning. It would not be a early start tomorrow, as we didn't have to return by the night.
Next - Nubra Valley - and the night in Hunder at Habib's guest house.
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