Everyone
packed up this morning and crammed almost everything into the cars. Like the others, we have left one bag behind
with things that we do not need (like trekking gear) for the next week. Our entourage seems to have grown some for
the 240km drive to Tsomoriri Lake. One
of the new crew is the most important.
He is the eye doctor who will be seeing the nomads. He is pretty much the reason for our
trip.
Another
addition to the cars is Justin. It sure
is getting crowded! We had stopped for
tea at the house of a friend of Khandro-la’s on the way to the lake. Justin decided that travelling in the cold
mountains of India by bike wasn’t nearly as much fun as he thought so he left
the rented bike with the family and he plans to pick it up again on the way
back to Leh after the week in Tsomoriri.
BTW, somewhere along the line, Kanya and Justin seem to have become a
couple. I haven’t a clue whether Andreas
is heartbroken or relieved.
We are
staying in the lake-side town of Korzak at the Nomadic Life Tent Camp. At an altitude of 4,500m, we are sucking wind
for oxygen and it is pretty cold when the sun is hidden. I’m worried about what it will be like
tonight. If you missed the meaning of
the name of where we are staying, let me repeat that we are staying in tents –
large army tents but tents none the less.
They are big enough for four cots, and a little walking space around the
beds. As we have the whole tent to
ourselves (pure luxury!), we use the free bunks to keep our clothes off the
cold ground. There is a groundsheet
built into the tent but who knows if moisture will get in. The outhouses are not too far from our tent
so Melanie’s mad dashes in the middle of the freezing nights may be tolerable. The shower shacks are a bit further away but I
am not sure how that will work. The
water is apparently ice cold and is never more than a trickle. We are told that water could be boiled for us
to use for a sponge bath but that sounds like trouble. Coming from Singapore, Melanie and I are used
to a mandatory shower at least once a day, if not twice. We won’t be sweating like at home though so
we will see.
We got to
walk around the small village after we settled in and learned the camp
rules. The villagers look genuinely
happy that we are there. We understand
that they rarely get to see a doctor but we don’t really appreciate what that
means to them.
Before bed,
we had a late dinner in the mess tent of the camp but this turned out to be a
strange drama that was a bit unsettling.
Just as we sat down for dinner, we were told that we had been summoned
by Khandro-la. The hot food was on the
table, glasses filled with water, all we had to do was dish it out and
eat. What’s up with this? Let’s just eat quickly and go? No, demanded Ani-la. Khandro-la specifically said
we needed to go to her before food was served.
There was a lot of grumbling as we were all hungry. We didn’t have much food on the road and this
was our big meal of the day that also needed to keep us warn tonight. The reason for her beckoning better be good.
Khandro-la
and some of her crew are staying in the monastery in the small village which
sits above the floodplain where our tents are.
It looks a little more comfortable than our tents. Royalty has its privileges, I guess. We did the 15 minute climb up the hill by
torchlight and through the monastery to find Khandro-la. After we got to a small reception room, she
instructed us to sit on the chairs and floor around her. She said that she had two serious things to
talk to us about. Her demeanor seemed very
different from the first part of the trip so far. She appeared angry. What had we done? Well, first, she lectured us for a while
about the fact that she was running the eye camp and it was ONLY her
project. She emphasized that things
worked differently in Ladakh and we were not it let our Western bias interrupt
proceedings. She apparently had
Australian doctors help in prior years and she had a lot of problems getting
them to do things her way. She wasn’t
more specific but she was very emphatic that she would not tolerate any Western
influences. I am not sure what she means
but I’ll keep that in mind! So far
though, I was reminded that she wasn’t as bothered by our Western money. Second, Khandro-la also complained that she
was very disappointed that we had not already learnt her prayer that she wanted
us to memorize and recite before every meal.
Groan. We got to practice it
several times this evening before we were dismissed. Dinner was worth the worthless wait but I did
feel sorry for the woman who ran the
camp. She had to keep back the food,
reheat it and stay up about 90 minutes later than she would normally have
just to clean up after us. That angers
me and I wonder if I am letting my “Western bias” influence me. No, I think it is more of my Jesuit training
that makes me upset that we are causing trouble for someone else. Are Jesuit’s Western?
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